To Go with MArk 8:27-38 Proper 19 Year B

OPENING PRAYER
God, you have called us to this place and to be your people,
Here we come to be refreshed, to be renewed, but also to be challenged.
You challenge us to explore what we believe and determine how to respond in faith.
In our time together remind us that we do not explore the hard questions alone.
Remind us also that the explorations and struggle matter as much as the answer.
Creator God, send your Spirit in this place.
Fill us with hope and send us out to live and serve and struggle. Amen

Offering Prayer
God who has given us so much, here we share that abundance with your world in need.
May these gifts –
the ones on the plate and the many other gifts of love we share everyday –
be a visible sign of what we believe and why our faith matters. We give them in Jesus’ name. Amen.

COMMISSIONING AND BENEDICTION
Who do you say I am? Jesus’ question echoes through the ages
We struggle to find the answer for ourselves and to share that answer with others.
Who do you say you are? The unspoken follow-up haunts the church.
As people trying to be faithful we reflect on the question and live out our faith in response.
As we wrestle with the hard questions of life, as we struggle to determine what we believe, as we strive to share our faith with the world around us,
We know that God is with us in the questions and the answers. We know that God is sharing in all of our lives. We trust that God helps us to find the Way.
Go with God. Walk with God. Struggle with God.
Always and everywhere. Amen.