For August 29, 2010 -- 14th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 17, Year C

Call to Worship/Opening Prayer
The invitation has been given:
Come and gather, come on and all, come as you are!
The welcome mat is laid out:
Come in and sit down! Join us!
We gather to sing and listen,
we gather to pray and be refreshed.
Hospitable God, welcoming God,
may this time together fill us with vision of what it means to embrace Radical hospitality.
Challenging God, coaxing God,
may this time together push us to ask ourselves hard questions about ourselves and push us to new actions.
Loving God, encouraging God,
we pray in the name of Jesus, who teaches us how to welcome others in your Kingdom.
And who teaches us to pray together saying...

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE

Merciful God, we try to live in the Way of wisdom, but sometimes we get confused. There seem to be 2 sets of rules and it is hard to choose. The common sense of the world seems much more attractive than the Radicalness of Your Way. For all the times we play it safe, when we stay in our comfort zone, forgive us.

...time of silent prayer...

God's Way is not always easy or comfortable. But it is always available. When we make other choices God is always there to lead us back, never holding our wanderings over our heads. God is Gracious and Forgiving. We are a forgiven people.

Thanks and Praise to God! Amen.

BENEDICTION:
God called us here together, welcoming us just as we are.
And God calls us to welcome others, just as they are.
As we go out into the world,
We go remembering that all are welcome in God's kingdom.
Which means that we have a message for the world,
we share God's message of welcome, of Radical acceptance and hospitality
As you go to welcome the world, go out knowing that the God who creates, re-creates, and sustains us is with you every step of the way.
Thanks be to God! Amen!

For August 22, 2010 -- 13th Sunday After Pentecost, Year C

BENEDICTION:
When we are bent over and tired...
God is there to set us free.
As those who have been called to stand up straight...
we go out into the world to share the promise of freedom.
As you go out, know that the God who sets us all free, who helps us stand straight, who gives us strength to go on is with you every step of the way.
Thanks and praise to God. Amen

For August 15, 2010 -- 12th Sunday After Pentecost Year C

CALL TO WORSHIP/OPENING PRAYER
Each of us had a choice to make this morning
We could roll over and go back to sleep or we could come to worship.
Each of us has many choices to make in life
Do we follow the world's wisdom or God's wisdom?
We gather here to receive guidance and strength to make these choices.
God, grant that in this time of song and prayer and listening our hearts and beings are opened to Your presence, to Your dreams, and to Your wisdom.
And in the end send us out to live and serve,
making hard choices, choosing to follow Jesus, choosing Your way over the world's ways.
We pray in the name of Jesus, whose path we try to follow, and who taught his friends to pray by saying together...

ASSURANCE OF PARDON
God is gracious beyond all our hopes and expectations.
Whenever we drift into error, whenever we make unwise choices, God gently draws us back onto the Path of Life
We are forgiven and loved. Always.
Thanks and praise to God! Amen!

For August 8, 2010 -- 11th Sunday After Pentecost Year C

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God we admit that we let the comfortable get in our way. We confess that we sometimes let religion get in the way of being faithful. For all those times when we have been diverted from living out Your love, forgive us we pray.
...time of silent prayer...
God is gracious and forgiving. When we stray from The Way of wisdom God gracefully draws us back. WE are loved and forgiven.
Thanks be to God! Amen.