Call to Worship

Leader: Beloved, in a world that criticizes women who lead in the workplace and demeans women who stay home to tend their families, God’s uncommon wisdom calls to us:

All: Recognize the leadership of women!

Leader: In a world where churches still deny and repress the gifts, graces, and callings of women in ministry, God’s uncommon wisdom calls to us:

All: Nurture the leadership of women!

Leader: In boardrooms, family meetings, town councils, pulpits, and church committees, women lead us with their voices, their actions, their wisdom, and their strength. And so, God’s uncommon wisdom calls to us:

All: Respect the leadership of women!

Leader: For too long, women who lead among us have been unnamed, underappreciated, and exploited as free labor. May we listen and act, then, as God’s uncommon wisdom calls to us:

All: Support the leadership of women! Thanks be to God. Amen.

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

Litany

Women and Girls: Phenomenal. That’s what we are!

Men and Boys: Yes, our sisters, mothers, daughters, wives, friends, aunts, cousins, and nieces—phenomenal—that’s what you are!

Women and Girls: We nurture, plan, care for, prepare, volunteer, love, support, comfort, manage, conquer—we are strong, graceful, sensible, and thoughtful. We are marvelously and wonderfully made.

Men and Boys: Yes, our God has done great things. We should shout, hallelujah!

Women and Girls: Our brothers, fathers, sons, uncles, nephews, friends, and cousins—God has created and woven you into the same phenomenally wonderful and miraculous tapestry. Let us all shout, hallelujah!

ALL: Praise be to God for making each one of us unique. We are special and made in God’s own image. Yes! We are God’s delight. Hallelujah!

Written by Cynthia A. Bond Hopson, The Africana Worship Book, Year B (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 2007), 100.

Prayer of Confession

(inspired by James 3)

O God,
we live our lives as best we can—
dealing with difficult relationships and situations,
putting failures and disappointments behind us,
and moving into each new day
with as much energy, goodwill,
and optimism as we can muster.
But here, right now,
we seldom have the right answers,
we seldom seek your higher wisdom in our lives,
we just move ahead.
Forgive us for not asking for your insight.
Fill us with your wisdom,
that we may live lives
of goodness and peace. Amen.

Words of Assurance
(inspired by James 3)

When we come before God in humility and honesty,
God draws near to us with forgiveness
and renewed blessing.
Thanks be to God!

Adapted from The Abingdon Worship Annual 2009, © 2008 Abingdon Press. Posted on the Ministry Matters website, http://www.ministrymatters.com/. Re-posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2012/09/confession-james-3.html.

Benediction

Beloved, may God continue to bless us with women who lead us as we follow the path of God’s uncommon wisdom. May we recognize, nurture, respect, and support God’s call on their lives today and all days. Amen.

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