PROPER 11
Worship
LECTIONARY WORSHIP AIDS
Series III, Cycle A
CALL TO WORSHIP
Let us bless God from our innermost hearts, forgetting none of the benefits of Gods's compassion: pardon for our guilt, healing for our suffering, constant love and renewal of strength.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God of long range planning, God involved in human history, God who saves us in hope, we confess that we are impatient with your timing. We want immediate judgment on the sins of others, though not on our own. The time of our own suffering seems endless, but the duration of deprivation for others we can shrug off We want instant recognition of our achievements, but are jealous of the honors afforded others. Forgive the pride that proposes that we know better than you do what should be done and when, for the sake of Jesus of Nazareth, who also struggled against doing your will but did it nevertheless. Amen.
DECLARATION OF GOD'S FORGIVENESS
Hear the Good News! We have been saved, though only in hope of the splendor which is in store for us. Friends, believe the Good News. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.
EXHORTATION
Endure suffering and frustration in hope of entering into the liberty and splendor of the children of God.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Nourish our hopes with prophetic promises, eternal God, and keep us awake in searching out your secrets, that our timeline may be synchronized with yours, as was the earthly time of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
Obscure God, disclosed through a strange history and a suffering Son of an insignificant nation, we stand in awe of your mysterious ways. Who is there to be compared with you? You only are God. We have never heard of anyone who can do what you do. You bring to power the powerless and overthrow the tyrant. You are compassionate and gracious, showing your favor to slaves as well as sovereigns, promising liberty to all who live in hope of the final triumph of your goodness. In a blighted world we rejoice in the first fruits that point to a final harvest still to come. In mortality we wait with eager anticipation for the freedom of immortality. We praise you, God of creation, God of resurrection, God of restoration. Amen.
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Multiplier of small things, make of us a force for good, uplifting what is best in our community, to the glory of your name and the growth of your rule in the world. Amen.
PSALM 139:1-12, 23-24
O LORD, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O LORD, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can Iflee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,"
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Let us bless God from our innermost hearts, forgetting none of the benefits of Gods's compassion: pardon for our guilt, healing for our suffering, constant love and renewal of strength.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God of long range planning, God involved in human history, God who saves us in hope, we confess that we are impatient with your timing. We want immediate judgment on the sins of others, though not on our own. The time of our own suffering seems endless, but the duration of deprivation for others we can shrug off We want instant recognition of our achievements, but are jealous of the honors afforded others. Forgive the pride that proposes that we know better than you do what should be done and when, for the sake of Jesus of Nazareth, who also struggled against doing your will but did it nevertheless. Amen.
DECLARATION OF GOD'S FORGIVENESS
Hear the Good News! We have been saved, though only in hope of the splendor which is in store for us. Friends, believe the Good News. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.
EXHORTATION
Endure suffering and frustration in hope of entering into the liberty and splendor of the children of God.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Nourish our hopes with prophetic promises, eternal God, and keep us awake in searching out your secrets, that our timeline may be synchronized with yours, as was the earthly time of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
Obscure God, disclosed through a strange history and a suffering Son of an insignificant nation, we stand in awe of your mysterious ways. Who is there to be compared with you? You only are God. We have never heard of anyone who can do what you do. You bring to power the powerless and overthrow the tyrant. You are compassionate and gracious, showing your favor to slaves as well as sovereigns, promising liberty to all who live in hope of the final triumph of your goodness. In a blighted world we rejoice in the first fruits that point to a final harvest still to come. In mortality we wait with eager anticipation for the freedom of immortality. We praise you, God of creation, God of resurrection, God of restoration. Amen.
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Multiplier of small things, make of us a force for good, uplifting what is best in our community, to the glory of your name and the growth of your rule in the world. Amen.
PSALM 139:1-12, 23-24
O LORD, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O LORD, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can Iflee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,"
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
