To go with the sermon The Church in the World: Gospel in One Hand, Paper in the Other

CALL TO WORSHIP & OPENING PRAYER

We are called to be people of faith in the midst of the world,

and so we mix our worship and work, our faith and our life.

As we gather in this place for our singing and praying and listening,

we carry with us the worries and the stories from the world around us.

Creating and re-creating God, in this time of worship,

open our hearts and minds to hear and see you in the world around us,

grant us the bigness of heart to hear the stories of the world,

help us to view the world through the eyes of Gospel.

And when our worship is finished,

lead us back out into the world where faith shapes our lives.

We pray in the name of Jesus, who openly embraced the world around him, and taught his friends to pray saying...

 

COMMISSIONING:

As people of faith we have gathered for worship.

As people of faith we now return to the world.

Go out with open eyes and open ears,

we go to see and hear the laughter and tears of the world.

Go to interpret the world through the eyes of Gospel people.

And in doing so we will carry the Gospel hope to that same world.

Go with God, who has created and is creating the world in which we live.

Thanks be to God, who is active and alive in the world. Amen.