BY KACHAEL J

ONE BODY, GOD’S BODY

Share this Call to Worship as a prayer or adapt as a call/response reading

My body. One body. Our body. God’s body.
This is my home.
These are my people.
We fully give our gifts to help strengthen the body.
My body. One body. Our body. God’s body.
Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
Only as one being strengthened and motivating those around us can we reign victorious.

Holy Spirit, we implore your wisdom, guidance, and discipline.
Make us whole. Strengthen our weakness.
Keep deception and division far from us.
Fill us forever with the true Bread of Life, Jesus Christ.
May we not forget where our Eternal Life flows from.
Unify us in you, Lord. Beyond race, culture, education, social and economic status.
Bind us to one another.
Show us you in every face that looks back at us.

My body. One body. Our body. God’s Body

PASTORAL PRAYER

Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. We, your people come before you today and lay prostrate at your feet. We realize that what is done in the dark will surely come to light when left unacknowledged and unrepented. It will fester, not only polluting our spirit, mind, and body, but the spirits, minds, and bodies of the community around us. We thank you for the members of your body that in love and with holy reverence, to you, reveal our faults and secret sins that lie within us. May you give us a spirit that is teachable, repentant, and open to receiving correction and edification from whatever source or disciple of Christ you choose to use. May we never be too proud, too important, or too educated for correction. Pride comes before the fall, and we choose to stand this day facing head on every fault, failure, and frustration in our life. We will not shrink from the dirt of our lives. We will not hide the pain. We will be a place of safety for other believers and, in doing so, will ourselves find safety. Thank you, Father, for your mercy and grace that withholds the punishment that our sin deserved. Bless us, your body, may we continue to uphold one another in prayer and wisdom, speaking only that which the Holy Spirit gives us utterance to speak. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

AFTER SERMON RESPONSE

Saying to Neighbor
Women: I have sinned.
Men: I have sinned.
Leader to Church: I have sinned.

ALL to God: We have sinned!!

Leader: But you, LORD, are ever-merciful and forgiving

ALL (touch each part as recited):

We give you our heart,
our mind, and
our body.
For work in the body of Christ with steadfast determination and wisdom.

Women: Lather us in your love;
Men: Bathe us in the blood;
Leader: Dry us with your truth.

ALL: And present us a living sacrifice to God.

Kachael J was a voracious reader growing up, and she enjoys exploring new worlds through literature. A researcher by training and a worshiper at heart, she desires to see people and communities raised, repaired, and restored by the power of the Holy Spirit and preaching of the gospel. Using one of her hobbies, video editing, Kachael creates videos to encourage and help others in their faith walk. The daughter of a United Methodist ordained elder and a native of Atlanta, Georgia, she currently resides in the Atlanta Metro area and works in commercial real estate.