In Your Hometown

Call to Worship

Children of God, we come to worship today with expectations: how we expect to feel, what we expect to experience, songs we expect to sing, or prayers we expect to pray. We find comfort in the familiar.

We come to worship, expecting God to meet us here.

Sometimes what feels familiar grows stale. We stop noticing the power of our prayers. We hear but don’t listen to the Word. We sing without letting the music seep into our hearts. Yet, God is still here, moving and working among us.

We come to worship, expecting God to meet us here.

We may meet God in a familiar voice speaking a hard word, in a song we love that pierces our hearts, in a prayer that we receive in a new way. Because God is here, moving and working among us.

We come to worship, expecting God to meet us here.

Children of God, come! Let us worship, ready to embrace God’s Word already at work among us, even when we are challenged to recognize God in the familiar and unfamiliar alike.

We come to worship, expecting God to meet us here. Thank be to God! Amen.

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

Opening Prayer

In a cynical and despairing world, O God,
give us a quietly prophetic voice
to proclaim your hope.

In a violent and angry world, O God,
give us a quietly prophetic voice
to proclaim your peace.

In a dismissive and disinterested world, O God,
give us a quietly prophetic voice
to proclaim your compassion.

In a lonely and inhospitable world, O God,
give us a quietly prophetic voice
to proclaim your love.

In a grieving and weeping world, O God,
give us a quietly prophetic voice
to proclaim your joy.

May we be so captivated by your hope, O God,
that we cannot help but to whisper,
to sing, and to enact,
the message of your reign
which is always coming into our world;
And may our quietly prophetic lives
be channels of your restoring grace
wherever we may go.

Amen.

Written by John van de Laar and posted on Sacredise.com. Re-posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/search/label/Epiphany%204%20C.

Prayer of Confession

God, you share with us words of hope, words of Good News.
But sometimes, we are unable to hear them
because the source is too familiar.
You call us to share the Good News with those around us.
But sometimes we are unable to share,
because the people know us too well.
You encourage us to send messengers to other places
where they will be heard better.
But we can be jealous,
wanting the Good News to be for us, not them.

In the multitude of ways, we can and have subverted
your message of freedom and healing,
in all the ways we have kept the Jubilee year from happening,
we have left the path of true wisdom
and call upon your Grace to lead us back on track.

...time of silent prayer...

Words of Assurance

This is the time of God's favor,
God's grace continues to proclaim
release to the captives,
Good News to the poor
and freedom to the oppressed.

We live as loved, forgiven, and free people
through the grace of God!
Hallelujah! Amen.

Adapted from Rev Gord on his blog, Worship Offerings, http://worshipofferings.blogspot.ca/. Re-posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2019/01/prayer-of-confession-sharing-good-news.html.

Benediction

May God our Creator renew in us the creative Spirit
that brings healing and life to our world.
May Jesus the Christ uphold us in grace and love.
May the Holy Spirit fill us with courage
to be bearers of God’s song of hope in our hometown and beyond. Amen.

Adapted from the Pilgrim Uniting Church website. https://pilgrimwr.unitingchurch.org.au/?p=256.