Worship Prayers for Reformation Sunday

 CENTERING PRAYER (Martin Luther)

 

Lord God, heavenly Father, you did not spare your only Son, but gave him up for us all to be our Savior, and along with him you have graciously given us all things. We thank you for your precious, saving gospel, and we pray that you would help us to believe in the name of our Savior faithfully and steadfastly, for he alone is our righteousness and wisdom, our comfort and peace, so that we may stand on the day of his appearing; through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, our Lord. Amen. 

 

 

CALL TO WORSHIP (from Psalm 42)

 

Our souls thirst for God, for you, the living God.

We remember days filled with joyful shouts and loud songs of thanksgiving.

We’ve spent too much time away from you, adrift on the rolling waves of culture.

The deepest part of us calls out to the deepest part of you.

We will hope in God on sunny mornings and stormy nights.

We come to worship our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sustainer.

 

 

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

 

Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep to undo. Forgive what our lips tremble to name, what our hearts can no longer bear, and what has become for us a flood of judgment. Set us free from a past we cannot change; open to us a future in which we can be changed; and grant us grace to grow more and more in your likeness and image; through Jesus Christ, the light of the world. (Silent Confession)

 

 

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH – The Scots Confession Chapter One

 

We confess and acknowledge one only God, to whom only we must cleave, whom only we must serve, whom only we must worship, and in whom only we must put our trust: who is eternal, infinite, immeasurable, incomprehensible, omnipotent, invisible; one in substance, and yet distinct in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; by whom we confess and believe all things in heaven and in earth, as well visible as invisible, to have been created, to be retained in their being, and to be ruled and guided by his inscrutable Providence, to such end as his eternal wisdom, goodness, and justice has appointed them, to the manifestation of his own glory.

 

 

OFFERING

 

Invitation to the Offering

 

Loving God, we thank you for being our shelter in the storm, our rock in nights of uncertainty, and our deliverance through dangerous times. Please accept these gifts we return to you in gratitude.

 

Prayer after Offering

 

Let us pray…We thank you God for all you have done in our lives. We ask you to use these gifts to share your grace in a world hungry and thirsty for righteousness. Amen.