SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
Worship
LECTIONARY WORSHIP AIDS
Series III, Cycle A
CALL TO WORSHIP
Come and see all that God has done, tremendous in dealing with humanity. Come, listen, all who revere God, and I will tell you all God has done.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Giver of commandments, we have received them but have not kept them wholly. Perfect Keeper of commandments, we have not loved fully as you love. Interpreter of commandments, we have resisted the truth, not wanting to know fully what you expect of us. Forgive incomplete obedience, half-hearted love, and evasion of the whole truth. We seek your mercy, your advocacy, and your counsel through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
DECLARATION OF GOD'S FORGIVENESS
Hear the Good News! Christ died for our sins once and for all. He, the just, suffered for the unjust, to bring us to God. Friends, believe the Good News. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.
EXHORTATION
Hold the Lord Christ in reverence in your hearts. Always be ready with your defense whenever you are called to account for the hope that is in you, but make that defense with modesty and respect.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Spirit of truth, grant us such fart her disclosures of the Father and the Son that we may be aware that God is with us and in us, so that we may lovingly worship you and obey your commandments, even among those who do not receive you; through Jesus Christ, also our advocate with the Father. Amen.
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
God everywhere, God with us, God in us, we may find you and know you anywhere. We are grateful that you give us life and breath, together with all human beings. We acknowledge your greatness in designing the world and creating boundaries of time and place. You display great patience with us in our times of ignorance, and delay the day of judgment that we nay rediscover you and our solidarity with all humanity. Most of all you have given us Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, to lead us to repentance and the full knowledge of who we are as offspring of the eternal. We worship you, O God, Creator, Judge and Savior. Amen.
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Ruler of Nations and peoples, Head of the church, Spirit of the church: we have vowed to give ourselves in every way as members of the body of Christ. We are here to fulfill our vows and to give substance to our promises. Receive us and our offerings for the strengthening of the church, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
PSALM 66:8-20
Bless our God, O peoples,
let the sound of his praise he heard,
who has kept us among the living,
and has not let our feet slip.
For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net;
you laid burdens on our backs;
you let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.
I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
I will pay you my vows,
those that my lips uttered
and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings,
with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
I will make an offering of bulls and goats.
Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for me.
I cried aloud to him,
and he was extolled with my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
he has given heed to the words of my prayer.
Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me.
Come and see all that God has done, tremendous in dealing with humanity. Come, listen, all who revere God, and I will tell you all God has done.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Giver of commandments, we have received them but have not kept them wholly. Perfect Keeper of commandments, we have not loved fully as you love. Interpreter of commandments, we have resisted the truth, not wanting to know fully what you expect of us. Forgive incomplete obedience, half-hearted love, and evasion of the whole truth. We seek your mercy, your advocacy, and your counsel through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
DECLARATION OF GOD'S FORGIVENESS
Hear the Good News! Christ died for our sins once and for all. He, the just, suffered for the unjust, to bring us to God. Friends, believe the Good News. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.
EXHORTATION
Hold the Lord Christ in reverence in your hearts. Always be ready with your defense whenever you are called to account for the hope that is in you, but make that defense with modesty and respect.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Spirit of truth, grant us such fart her disclosures of the Father and the Son that we may be aware that God is with us and in us, so that we may lovingly worship you and obey your commandments, even among those who do not receive you; through Jesus Christ, also our advocate with the Father. Amen.
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
God everywhere, God with us, God in us, we may find you and know you anywhere. We are grateful that you give us life and breath, together with all human beings. We acknowledge your greatness in designing the world and creating boundaries of time and place. You display great patience with us in our times of ignorance, and delay the day of judgment that we nay rediscover you and our solidarity with all humanity. Most of all you have given us Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, to lead us to repentance and the full knowledge of who we are as offspring of the eternal. We worship you, O God, Creator, Judge and Savior. Amen.
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Ruler of Nations and peoples, Head of the church, Spirit of the church: we have vowed to give ourselves in every way as members of the body of Christ. We are here to fulfill our vows and to give substance to our promises. Receive us and our offerings for the strengthening of the church, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
PSALM 66:8-20
Bless our God, O peoples,
let the sound of his praise he heard,
who has kept us among the living,
and has not let our feet slip.
For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net;
you laid burdens on our backs;
you let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.
I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
I will pay you my vows,
those that my lips uttered
and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings,
with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
I will make an offering of bulls and goats.
Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for me.
I cried aloud to him,
and he was extolled with my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
he has given heed to the words of my prayer.
Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me.
