For September 14, 2008 -- Proper 19, 18th After Pentecost

CALL TO WORSHIP
Through the years and miles of time,
God calls God’s people together.
Amidst the trials and struggles of life,
God’s people gather to share the promise of freedom.
The God of freedom and justice is with us,
come, let us worship together. Let us pray…

OPENING PRAYER
Gracious God, to people fleeing from Pharaoh’s oppression you brought hope and victory.
The cloud and the fire led them and let them know they were not alone.
In this time together remind us of the signs in our world that you are with us.
Remind us that we too can hope for freedom.
May the time we spend here push us to search for a new way, a way where all find freedom without causing others to weep.
This we pray remembering the one who leads us to such a time, Jesus of Nazareth, who taught his friends to pray by saying…

Offering Prayer
God of freedom, you have given so much,
and with grateful hearts we share our abundance with the world.
Through these gifts:
May others be set free from whatever enslaves them;
may justice spread in a troubled world;
may Your love and peace fill our lives and the lives of those we meet. Amen.

COMMISSIONING AND BENEDICTION
Standing by the shore, Moses told the people to walk forward into the water.
And in wonderment and fear and trust they did so.
We always stand on a shore of the unknown.
And God calls us to step forward boldly
So step out to share the news that we are given freedom, freedom for all without revenge against “the other”.
We go out to share God’s promise with all who are in chains.
And go out knowing that God; our Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, is with us always and all ways.
Praise to God in whom we find our hope! Amen.