Worship prayers July 20

 CENTERING PRAYER

 

Holy God, you call us to live out your justice and righteousness. Help us to walk in your footsteps, so that we never lose our way. Enable us to live and love in the way you taught us, so we can act in grace, even with those who we consider our enemies. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

 

 

CALL TO WORSHIP

 

Love the Lord your God,                              

with all your heart, and with all your soul,

and with all your strength, and with all your mind!

Love your neighbor as yourself,

with all your heart, and with all your soul,

and with all your strength, and with all your mind!

Do this and you will live!

Let us worship God!

 

 

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

 

Holy God, we are your children, descendants of the God most high, yet, we do not honor you and our actions belittle the love you have for us. We do not defend the weak or uphold the poor. We do not commit to efforts to rescue the weak and the needy; we sometimes deliver them into solitude and neglect. Rise up to judge us, O God. We prefer your merciful justice to living with guilt and fear. Straighten our path and bring us back to you. (Silent Confession)

 

 

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH – Colossians 1:15-20

Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers-all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

 

 

OFFERING

 

Invitation to the Offering

 

As a redeemed people, we live for giving thanks! Everything we do and everything we have comes from God. Let us continue our thanksgiving with grateful hearts by returning to God a portion of what God provides.

 

Prayer after Offering

 

Let us pray…Thank you God: you are our soil, our food, our water, our sun, everything we need to grow. We offer these gifts to you asking for your direction, as we work each day so that your kingdom light becomes more and more of a reality in this world. Amen.