Proper 15
Worship
Lectionary Worship Aids
Series VI, Cycle A
Object:
Words Of Assurance
Just as God's words are challenging, demanding, and exacting, God's forgiveness is comforting, strengthening, and life-enriching.
Pastoral Prayer
Eternal God, the Shepherd of our souls, out of the noise of the world, its turbulence and its truculence, we come with reverence to worship you. Refresh in us the spirit of wonder and awe. From things that humans have made, we come into your sanctuary to think of what you have made. Deepen in us the wonder of the stars, the glory of the sun, the march of the seasons, the procession of day and night. O God, from everlasting to everlasting, whose years never fail, mystery upon mystery is this life of ours, its background, its sustenance, and its destiny. In reverence and wonder we worship you!
Give us a fresh vision, we beseech you, of the Highest. Let Christ dawn upon us anew this day. Make everything that is excellent in life real to us. Break upon our dull sight with the vision of the ineffable and the beautiful, that we may delight in life again and be thankful. Too easily we learn to despise life. We would learn to love it again this morning, to see that it is good, and to cry once more with all our hearts, "Serve the Lord with gladness."
We come before you, O God, with deep regret for the wrongs that we have done. Many an opportunity we have wasted, and we have made a sad tale of what might have been a glorious story. We have left our friends sad when they should have been happy, depressed when they might have been elevated, dull when they might have been illumined. For all that has been wrong in us we repent and acknowledge the reality of our human sin that lies like a shadow across the face of the earth. Make more poignant within us the sense of our iniquities, personal and social. Send us out with firmer purpose and high resolve, with penitence and power.
We seek in you, O Lord, depth and strength of character to handle the joys and adversities of the days ahead. We ask you for no more comfortable time. We know our destiny lies with hardship, but we pray for houses built upon solid foundations of enduring rock, that will not fall when the rains descend and the floods come and the winds blow. Let not prosperity spoil us or adversity shake us, but let joy be our opportunity. Let trouble evoke the best in us, that we may be worthy, even though afar off, to be disciples of the Christ who took into his life both the lilies of the field and the cross on Calvary.
Grant us zest in living that no grimness of the times can take away, and resilience of heart that no fear can destroy. So help us to bear living witness to the triumphant grace of Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen.
Benediction
May your faith be strong. May your mind be at peace. May your soul be filled with faith and hope; and the blessing of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be yours now and always. Amen.
Just as God's words are challenging, demanding, and exacting, God's forgiveness is comforting, strengthening, and life-enriching.
Pastoral Prayer
Eternal God, the Shepherd of our souls, out of the noise of the world, its turbulence and its truculence, we come with reverence to worship you. Refresh in us the spirit of wonder and awe. From things that humans have made, we come into your sanctuary to think of what you have made. Deepen in us the wonder of the stars, the glory of the sun, the march of the seasons, the procession of day and night. O God, from everlasting to everlasting, whose years never fail, mystery upon mystery is this life of ours, its background, its sustenance, and its destiny. In reverence and wonder we worship you!
Give us a fresh vision, we beseech you, of the Highest. Let Christ dawn upon us anew this day. Make everything that is excellent in life real to us. Break upon our dull sight with the vision of the ineffable and the beautiful, that we may delight in life again and be thankful. Too easily we learn to despise life. We would learn to love it again this morning, to see that it is good, and to cry once more with all our hearts, "Serve the Lord with gladness."
We come before you, O God, with deep regret for the wrongs that we have done. Many an opportunity we have wasted, and we have made a sad tale of what might have been a glorious story. We have left our friends sad when they should have been happy, depressed when they might have been elevated, dull when they might have been illumined. For all that has been wrong in us we repent and acknowledge the reality of our human sin that lies like a shadow across the face of the earth. Make more poignant within us the sense of our iniquities, personal and social. Send us out with firmer purpose and high resolve, with penitence and power.
We seek in you, O Lord, depth and strength of character to handle the joys and adversities of the days ahead. We ask you for no more comfortable time. We know our destiny lies with hardship, but we pray for houses built upon solid foundations of enduring rock, that will not fall when the rains descend and the floods come and the winds blow. Let not prosperity spoil us or adversity shake us, but let joy be our opportunity. Let trouble evoke the best in us, that we may be worthy, even though afar off, to be disciples of the Christ who took into his life both the lilies of the field and the cross on Calvary.
Grant us zest in living that no grimness of the times can take away, and resilience of heart that no fear can destroy. So help us to bear living witness to the triumphant grace of Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen.
Benediction
May your faith be strong. May your mind be at peace. May your soul be filled with faith and hope; and the blessing of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be yours now and always. Amen.
