Worship Prayer June 22

 

CENTERING PRAYER 

Holy God, there is much that tries to separate us from one another. Creed and color, gender and nation, class and culture call for our fragmentation, but you call us to live together in your grace. You call us your children. You call us beloved. Today, let the refrain: “There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:29) guide us with every step. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

CALL TO WORSHIP 

Set aside your enemies— the people, thoughts, time, and challenges— that separate you from knowing God’s love. Clothe yourselves in Christ. Shout praise in his name, and declare how much God has done for you.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION 

Loving and holy God, we confess that we hold tightly to our pride and resist your transforming grace. You offer us freedom and a welcome place in your family, yet we struggle, trying to earn what you have already given. We cling to our old ways of doing and thinking. You call us your beloved children. Help us hear and claim our new identity. Free us from the bonds of limited imagination and empower us to thrive in your life of faith and grace. (Silent Confession)

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH From The Book of Order, F-1.0301 

The Church is the body of Christ. Christ gives to the Church all the gifts necessary to be his body. The Church strives to demonstrate these gifts in its life as a community in the world: The Church is to be a community of faith, entrusting itself to God alone, even at the risk of losing its life. The Church is to be a community of hope, rejoicing in the sure and certain knowledge that, in Christ, God is making a new creation. This new creation is a new beginning for human life and for all things. The Church lives in the present on the strength of that promised new creation. The Church is to be a community of love, where sin is forgiven, reconciliation is accomplished, and the dividing walls of hostility are torn down. The Church is to be a community of witness, pointing beyond itself through word and work to the good news of God’s transforming grace in Christ Jesus its Lord.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.