Proper 8
Worship
Lectionary Worship Aids
Series VI, Cycle A
Object:
Words Of Assurance
Have confidence in the Lord, for he can heal the brokenhearted, restore the alienated, reunite the estranged, and forgive the wayward.
Pastoral Prayer
Eternal Spirit, who at first did brood over chaos and bring order from it, brood, we beseech you, over our souls. For our lives are disordered and amid the pressures of this world lost their meaning, direction, and aim. We need deep faith to undergird us, high hopes to allure us, profound resources to strengthen us. Brood, we beseech you, over your waiting and worshiping people; draw our lives together and make them whole.
Give us grace, Lord, to look deeply inward. From the immediate and external turn our eyes within. For the world is too much with us and we forget that while we have bodies we are souls. So minister to our inner life that we may have strength to rise above its temptations, to stand strong in the midst of its dismaying troubles, and to keep faith, courage, and honor high even when the world seems against us, that we may prosper even as our souls prosper.
Give us grace to look not only inward but upward. O God, let not the uplook of our spirits fail us in a day when the outlook is so dismaying. Let not God be lost to us. May our eyes steadfastly look up to you, and our lives be disciplined and directed by our devotion to the Highest.
Give us grace to look not only inward and upward but outward. Let our brothers and sisters come into the scope and horizon of our prayers. Let us bear our own troubles that we may be better able to help them in theirs. If we are in prosperity -- and most of us are, O Lord -- shame us from our selfish ease that we may remember those in frailty and need. Let our worship here result in an overflow of our generosity and affection.
All this we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Benediction
Become doers of God's Word and not listeners only, for those who persevere in what they have learned will be greatly blessed in what they do; and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you always. Amen.
Have confidence in the Lord, for he can heal the brokenhearted, restore the alienated, reunite the estranged, and forgive the wayward.
Pastoral Prayer
Eternal Spirit, who at first did brood over chaos and bring order from it, brood, we beseech you, over our souls. For our lives are disordered and amid the pressures of this world lost their meaning, direction, and aim. We need deep faith to undergird us, high hopes to allure us, profound resources to strengthen us. Brood, we beseech you, over your waiting and worshiping people; draw our lives together and make them whole.
Give us grace, Lord, to look deeply inward. From the immediate and external turn our eyes within. For the world is too much with us and we forget that while we have bodies we are souls. So minister to our inner life that we may have strength to rise above its temptations, to stand strong in the midst of its dismaying troubles, and to keep faith, courage, and honor high even when the world seems against us, that we may prosper even as our souls prosper.
Give us grace to look not only inward but upward. O God, let not the uplook of our spirits fail us in a day when the outlook is so dismaying. Let not God be lost to us. May our eyes steadfastly look up to you, and our lives be disciplined and directed by our devotion to the Highest.
Give us grace to look not only inward and upward but outward. Let our brothers and sisters come into the scope and horizon of our prayers. Let us bear our own troubles that we may be better able to help them in theirs. If we are in prosperity -- and most of us are, O Lord -- shame us from our selfish ease that we may remember those in frailty and need. Let our worship here result in an overflow of our generosity and affection.
All this we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Benediction
Become doers of God's Word and not listeners only, for those who persevere in what they have learned will be greatly blessed in what they do; and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you always. Amen.
