Proper 23
Worship
Lectionary Worship Aids
Series VI, Cycle A
Words Of Assurance
Ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Pastoral Prayer
O Spirit of God, eternal source of all creative energy, the divine power that transforms our potentialities into actualities, draw near to us as the Holy Spirit which was in Jesus Christ. We are afraid of raw energy and power, for it is unguided and untamed, like the lightning which hurls its thunderbolts across the skies. We distrust power and energy that we cannot control or turn off and on at will. When we think of you, O God, as all-powerful, we draw back in awesome dread of what your power can do. We see so much in the world that doesn't make sense. We long for a world of equality where every person will have an opportunity to develop his or her potential for creativity, health, happiness, and fulfillment. Instead, we find that the strong devour the weak, the rich consume ill-gotten gains wrested from the hands of the poor, and the courts of justice are desecrated as influential persons of wealth seek to buy freedom from the consequences of their evil deeds. This is the kind of naked, raw power that we see in the world, God, and we are suspicious of how you use your all-powerfulness, when we see these things happening. We wonder if you cannot do a better job in running the universe to which we belong.
Yet, who are we to blame or question you when we refuse to acknowledge or to use the powers we have to change ourselves or the small part of the world for which we are responsible? It is we who choose to create the individual worlds in which we live and not you. We choose whether to be honest or courageous or loving. We choose whether to be warm, open, and trusting, or cold, closed, and suspicious. We continually go down the same disappointing roads, never learning from our mistakes, always blaming somebody else for the failure and defeat which clutches our lives. The world which we loudly deplore is the world which we ourselves have helped to create, and we can blame no one else. Lord, forgive our past failures and weakness, and grant us new strength and determination to pattern our lives after your Son, Jesus Christ.
Hear our prayers in the name of him who died and rose again and shares forever the power of your glory, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Benediction
Rejoice always, for you are God's own people. May your lives daily be filled with his grace, mercy, and peace. The blessing of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be with you always. Amen.
Ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Pastoral Prayer
O Spirit of God, eternal source of all creative energy, the divine power that transforms our potentialities into actualities, draw near to us as the Holy Spirit which was in Jesus Christ. We are afraid of raw energy and power, for it is unguided and untamed, like the lightning which hurls its thunderbolts across the skies. We distrust power and energy that we cannot control or turn off and on at will. When we think of you, O God, as all-powerful, we draw back in awesome dread of what your power can do. We see so much in the world that doesn't make sense. We long for a world of equality where every person will have an opportunity to develop his or her potential for creativity, health, happiness, and fulfillment. Instead, we find that the strong devour the weak, the rich consume ill-gotten gains wrested from the hands of the poor, and the courts of justice are desecrated as influential persons of wealth seek to buy freedom from the consequences of their evil deeds. This is the kind of naked, raw power that we see in the world, God, and we are suspicious of how you use your all-powerfulness, when we see these things happening. We wonder if you cannot do a better job in running the universe to which we belong.
Yet, who are we to blame or question you when we refuse to acknowledge or to use the powers we have to change ourselves or the small part of the world for which we are responsible? It is we who choose to create the individual worlds in which we live and not you. We choose whether to be honest or courageous or loving. We choose whether to be warm, open, and trusting, or cold, closed, and suspicious. We continually go down the same disappointing roads, never learning from our mistakes, always blaming somebody else for the failure and defeat which clutches our lives. The world which we loudly deplore is the world which we ourselves have helped to create, and we can blame no one else. Lord, forgive our past failures and weakness, and grant us new strength and determination to pattern our lives after your Son, Jesus Christ.
Hear our prayers in the name of him who died and rose again and shares forever the power of your glory, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Benediction
Rejoice always, for you are God's own people. May your lives daily be filled with his grace, mercy, and peace. The blessing of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be with you always. Amen.
