PROPER 19
Worship
LECTIONARY WORSHIP AIDS
Series III, Cycle A
CALL TO WORSHIP
Keep the Lord in mind as you honor the first day of the week as the day of the resurrection.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Father-in-heaven, Brother-in-heaven, Mothering Spirit-everywhere, we confess that we try your patience with our inconsistencies. We expect you to forgive our grossest sins, but are unwilling to forgive the petty sins of our brothers and sisters, our neighbors andfriends. We recount for those closest to us the number of times they have offended us, but forget the numberless times you have forgiven us for a wide range of sins. We want justice for our neighbor's misdemeanors, but mercy for our own felonies. We do not have the same tolerance for others as we have for ourselves. Forgive such unevenness, merciful God. Amen.
DECLARATION OF GOD'S FORGIVENESS
Hear the Good News! God pardons our guilt and surrounds us with constant love, with tender affection. Friends, believe the Good News. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.
EXHORTATION
Since God has not treated us as our sins deserve nor requited us for our misdeeds, let us be forgiving, not only seven times, but seventy times seven.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Holy Ruler, suffering Prince, saving Sovereign, persist in your dealings with us until we have learned to forgive as you forgive, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, that your realm may be extended from heaven to earth. Amen.
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
Universal God, from Greenwich to Greenwich, from pole to pole to pole, you are our God and there is no other, There is no place where we can escape your justice, but also no place where your mercy does not reach. No journey into space can take us beyond the bounds of your love. There are limits to our understanding of your ways in human history, and endless questions, but your patience and love fill us with gratitude and praise. Glory to God in the highest. Glory to God on earth. Glory to God in the church. Amen.
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Let these offerings, divine Employer, he a sign of our service, that we do not live and do not work for ourselves alone, that whether we live or die we are yours. Amen.
EXODUS 15:1b-11, 20-21
"I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
The LORD is my strength and my might, and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.
The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.
"Pharaoh's chariots and his army he cast into the sea;
his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power -
your right hand, O LORD, shattered the enemy.
In the greatness of your majesty you overthrew your adversaries;
you sent out your fury, it consumed them like stubble.
At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up,
the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.
I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.'
You blew with your wind, the sea covered them;
they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
"Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders?
Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand;
and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing.
And Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea."
(or)
PSALM 114:1-8
When Israel went out from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of strange language.
Judah became God's sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back.
The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.
Why is it, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?
O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the LORD,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.
Keep the Lord in mind as you honor the first day of the week as the day of the resurrection.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Father-in-heaven, Brother-in-heaven, Mothering Spirit-everywhere, we confess that we try your patience with our inconsistencies. We expect you to forgive our grossest sins, but are unwilling to forgive the petty sins of our brothers and sisters, our neighbors andfriends. We recount for those closest to us the number of times they have offended us, but forget the numberless times you have forgiven us for a wide range of sins. We want justice for our neighbor's misdemeanors, but mercy for our own felonies. We do not have the same tolerance for others as we have for ourselves. Forgive such unevenness, merciful God. Amen.
DECLARATION OF GOD'S FORGIVENESS
Hear the Good News! God pardons our guilt and surrounds us with constant love, with tender affection. Friends, believe the Good News. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.
EXHORTATION
Since God has not treated us as our sins deserve nor requited us for our misdeeds, let us be forgiving, not only seven times, but seventy times seven.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Holy Ruler, suffering Prince, saving Sovereign, persist in your dealings with us until we have learned to forgive as you forgive, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, that your realm may be extended from heaven to earth. Amen.
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
Universal God, from Greenwich to Greenwich, from pole to pole to pole, you are our God and there is no other, There is no place where we can escape your justice, but also no place where your mercy does not reach. No journey into space can take us beyond the bounds of your love. There are limits to our understanding of your ways in human history, and endless questions, but your patience and love fill us with gratitude and praise. Glory to God in the highest. Glory to God on earth. Glory to God in the church. Amen.
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Let these offerings, divine Employer, he a sign of our service, that we do not live and do not work for ourselves alone, that whether we live or die we are yours. Amen.
EXODUS 15:1b-11, 20-21
"I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
The LORD is my strength and my might, and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.
The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.
"Pharaoh's chariots and his army he cast into the sea;
his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power -
your right hand, O LORD, shattered the enemy.
In the greatness of your majesty you overthrew your adversaries;
you sent out your fury, it consumed them like stubble.
At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up,
the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.
I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.'
You blew with your wind, the sea covered them;
they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
"Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders?
Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand;
and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing.
And Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea."
(or)
PSALM 114:1-8
When Israel went out from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of strange language.
Judah became God's sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back.
The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.
Why is it, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?
O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the LORD,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.
