Fourth Sunday In Lent
Worship
Lectionary Worship Aids
Series VI, Cycle A
Object:
Words Of Assurance
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Pastoral Prayer
Eternal Spirit, hope of the souls that seek you, strength of the souls that find you, we worship you, praying for that inner refreshment and renewal which only your presence can bring. Through another week the world has towered above us with its turbulence, and we have grown anxious, fearful, perplexed, inadequate. We need some shepherd to lead us in green pastures and beside the still waters, restoring our souls. Surprise us today with some unexpected gift of your grace, some needed insight and guidance, some vision of new possibilities, some fresh resource of strength and courage. Let this visit to your sanctuary be to some of us the beginning of a new era, as though once more at the burning bush your voice said to us, "The place whereon you stand is holy ground."
We pray for inner, spiritual victory over our lives. Grant us this triumph when we face hardship. We dare not ask to be spared life's difficulties and tragedies. Whatever strength of character we have achieved, whatever fortitude and patience we possess, has come from handling hardships. But we pray that we may rise above it, be superior to it, have power to transcend it, that we may build it into the fabric of our characters and weave it into the texture of our souls.
Grant us victory, we pray, over our temptations. Have mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly beset by enticements to evil. May the good life, revealed in Christ, shine in our eyes today with an attractiveness that evil cannot have. Above all, we pray that we may so handle ourselves that we may not hurt and harm others. You have woven into our lives those whom we deeply love, so that whatever we do, we do also to them. Help us to be our best for their sakes, and may we never by our weakness injure and despoil them.
As thus we pray for ourselves, we pray for the world, and especially for all those who labor for the good of humankind. We pray, too, for your Church, O God. Make the Christian Church more Christian. May the Spirit of Jesus descend upon her and invade all who represent her, that the day of the Lord's victory may come at last.
All this we pray in the Spirit of Christ. Amen.
Benediction
Let love be genuine, hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; and the blessing of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be yours. Amen.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Pastoral Prayer
Eternal Spirit, hope of the souls that seek you, strength of the souls that find you, we worship you, praying for that inner refreshment and renewal which only your presence can bring. Through another week the world has towered above us with its turbulence, and we have grown anxious, fearful, perplexed, inadequate. We need some shepherd to lead us in green pastures and beside the still waters, restoring our souls. Surprise us today with some unexpected gift of your grace, some needed insight and guidance, some vision of new possibilities, some fresh resource of strength and courage. Let this visit to your sanctuary be to some of us the beginning of a new era, as though once more at the burning bush your voice said to us, "The place whereon you stand is holy ground."
We pray for inner, spiritual victory over our lives. Grant us this triumph when we face hardship. We dare not ask to be spared life's difficulties and tragedies. Whatever strength of character we have achieved, whatever fortitude and patience we possess, has come from handling hardships. But we pray that we may rise above it, be superior to it, have power to transcend it, that we may build it into the fabric of our characters and weave it into the texture of our souls.
Grant us victory, we pray, over our temptations. Have mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly beset by enticements to evil. May the good life, revealed in Christ, shine in our eyes today with an attractiveness that evil cannot have. Above all, we pray that we may so handle ourselves that we may not hurt and harm others. You have woven into our lives those whom we deeply love, so that whatever we do, we do also to them. Help us to be our best for their sakes, and may we never by our weakness injure and despoil them.
As thus we pray for ourselves, we pray for the world, and especially for all those who labor for the good of humankind. We pray, too, for your Church, O God. Make the Christian Church more Christian. May the Spirit of Jesus descend upon her and invade all who represent her, that the day of the Lord's victory may come at last.
All this we pray in the Spirit of Christ. Amen.
Benediction
Let love be genuine, hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; and the blessing of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be yours. Amen.
