For September 18, 2011 -- Proper 20A, 14th After Pentecost

CALL TO WORSHIP/OPENING PRAYER
Lift your voices, sing praise to the Holy One!
Praises for all that God has done.
Lift your hearts in thanksgiving!
Thankful for all the gifts the God has given.
Open your eyes to see the great breadth of God's generosity!
God's mercy is as wide as the sea, as deep as the ocean,
During this time of worship,
may our hearts be opened:
to see the breadth of God's generosity,
to accept God's generosity without envy,
to celebrate with those who are given what they need rather than what they have earned.
And may we leave this place,
ready to tell the good news of a merciful generous God who is alive and active in the world.
We pray in the name of the one who taught us about God's mercy and grace, and who taught his friends to pray by saying...

For September 11, 2011 -- Proper 19A, 13th After Pentecost

OPENING PRAYER
God of life, as a new season begins, we come with hopes and wonders,
in our time of worship open our eyes to see the world as You see it, open our hearts that Your love may flow through them, open our ears to hear you calling us forward.
And when our worship is ended,
may we go out as people who have been fed in body and spirit, ready to live and serve. Amen

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE

When we feel hurt, or threatened, or attacked;

we instinctively want to strike out, to re-pay pain with pain.

When we reach a moment of victory in the struggles of life,

we instinctively want to celebrate, to sing and dance, even if it means rejoicing in the suffering of others.

But, God of Forgiveness, you call us to a different Way.

You call us to offer forgiveness instead of vengeance, to seek justice for all, to forgive not once, but 77 times. And we know that we find this difficult. We know that sometimes this is beyond us.

...time of silent prayer...

God, who calls us to forgive, sets out the model of forgiving. Not once, not even 77 times, but over and over, forever and ever, God sets aside our actions, not holding our faults against us. We are a forgiven people!

Thanks be to God. Amen.