Counting the Cost

Call to Worship (for Labor Day Sunday)

Come, all who labor and are weighed down with responsibility, uncertainty, and worry.

We come, because the load we carry is heavier than we can bear alone.

Come, all you who seek to relate work and worship, leisure and service, into a meaningful whole.

We gather for spiritual renewal and practical challenge, for help in making choices and carrying out our commitments.

Come, sinner and saint, with your hatreds and loves, your failures and successes, your sorrows and joys.

We respond to the Spirit’s leading and open ourselves to receive God’s gracious gifts.

Lavon Baylor, Flames of the Spirit, Ruth C. Duck, ed., Pilgrim Press, 1985, 52.

Opening Prayer

God of power and mercy,
only with your help
can we offer you fitting service and praise.
May we live the faith we profess
and trust your promise of eternal life.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Posted on the Order of Carmelites website, https://ocarm.org/en/item/2364. Reposted: https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2013/08/opening-prayer-only-with-your-help.html.

Prayer to Follow Christ

O Lord Jesus,
gentle and humble of heart,
full of compassion and maker of peace,
you lived in poverty and suffered persecution for the cause of justice.
You chose the Cross as the path to glory to show us the way of salvation.
May we receive the word of the Gospel joyfully
and live by your example as heirs and citizens of your kingdom. Amen.

Posted on the Catholic Forum website. Reposted: https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2013/08/prayer-to-follow-christ.html.

Pastoral Prayer

“Wrap Us in Your Love”

Lord of the cross, you call us to follow you. We mouth a yes and nod an okay, but do we know what you’ve asked us to do? We’re to love you more than others? Some say that cross is too heavy. Still, you compel us to follow, knowing that this cross is too heavy for us to carry alone. You say, count the cost and consider what discipleship is. Sometimes we squirm and say the cost is too great and the sacrifices too numerous. Still, you compel us to follow. The cross you ask us to carry is not nearly as heavy as the cross you carried for us. Nevertheless, we complain – and you listen. We search for an easier alternative – and you watch us. God, help us to admit when we get frustrated by the enormity of discipleship. Extend grace and mercy toward us. Wrap us inside of your unconditional love. And patiently compel us to follow you again. Amen.

Kwasi Kena, The Africana Worship Book for Year C, Valerie Bridgeman-Davis and Safiyah Fosua, eds., (Discipleship Resources, 2008), 133.

Benediction

Lord, please look on us with grace;
watch over us with love;
and surround us with peace. Amen.

Felicia Y. Thomas, The Abingdon Women’s Preaching Annual, Series 2, Year C, Leonora Tubbs Tisdale, ed., (Abingdon, 2000), 153.