In Need and in Abundance

Call to Worship

Beloved, when hope is high, abundance surrounds us, and we bask in the goodness of God’s provision, God calls to us…

Open your heart and your hands.

When disaster strikes, need overwhelms the senses, and we carry the weight and worry of a perilous present and unknown future, God calls to us…

Open your heart and your hands.

When we are moved with compassion, our hearts urging us to reach out to support our siblings in Christ, God calls to us…

Open your heart and your hands.

Children of God, as we gather for worship today, listen! God call us to open our hearts and our hands to one another in need and in abundance.

May our worship open our hearts and our hands to one another as we learn to share with one another in all seasons, for we are all one in the Body of Christ. Amen.

Written by Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, April 2024.

Opening Prayer

Living and faithful Spirit,
the God in whom we live and move and have our being,
the God who is made known in Christ Jesus,
bless us one and all as we wait on you this day.

Please remove from our minds and hearts
whatever impediments hinder worship or dampen our joy.
Increase within us that holy longing for closeness
which can open our lives to fuller delight
and to a deeper commitment.

May our hymns and prayers,
our searching thoughts, and our hearing of the Scriptures,
be an exercise in the holiest love making.
By you, with you and for you, may our lives publish your praise.
In the name of Christ Jesus.
Amen!

Written by Bruce Prewer, and posted on Bruce Prewer’s Homepage. http://www.bruceprewer.com/. Re-posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2012/06/call-to-worship-prayer-proper-8-b.html.

Prayer of Confession

We fill our lives with the fear of scarcity,
assuming there is not enough money,
time, patience or love.
We turn away when a stranger asks for nourishment,
claiming there isn’t enough even for ourselves.

Forgive us when we doubt your abundance
and ignore the possibilities in what we have been given.

We often sit with arms crossed and fists clenched,
crying out that you have turned away
and left us empty handed.

Forgive us when we reject your abundance
and neglect the possibilities in what we have been given.

We easily give thanks for the good things in life,
turning away from those
which lead us to deeper community
or second-guessing blessings as too good to be true.

Open our eyes to the wonders that surround us.
Help us surrender to the loving embrace that enfolds us.

(Individual prayers of confession)

Words of Assurance

Take comfort:
we, and the whole world with us,
are always embraced in Christ’s love.
In Christ, there is always enough. Amen.

From Stone Soup, a liturgy from the Seekers Church: A Christian Community. Re-posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2011/09/confession-always-enough.html.

Benediction

Children of God, may you go from this place carrying the genuineness of your love in your hearts, blessed by Christ who saves you to open your hands and pour out your love in generosity and compassion with and for your neighbors. Amen.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, April 2024.