For June 17, 2012 -- Proper 6B

OPENING PRAYER

God, you have gathered us together again,

here we come to celebrate your presence,

here we come to listen for your Word,

here we come to wrestle with how you are active in our lives.

God, you call us to see the world as you see it.

In this time together open our eyes that we may see,

glimpses of Truth you have for us.

And with eyes that have been opened, send us back into the world,

ready to see others for what they are worth, ready to look beyond the surface.

We pray in the name of the one whose name we bear, the one who saw others as Your Beloved children, the one who taught his friends to pray together saying...

COMMISSIONING:

God has seen into our core, seen our potential, seen who we are

God has anointed us with oil, set us apart for a task

though the road to the future may not always be straight or easy,

May God help us be the people God would have us be,

may God help us live out the task with which we have been charged,

may God push us forward when the road seems too hard.

As you go out to the world where we live and serve, remember that you do not go alone.

May God walk with us, re-create us, sustain us every step of the way. Amen.

For June 10, 2012. Proper 5B 2nd After Pentecost

CALL TO WORSHIP/OPENING PRAYER

People of God, why have you come here?

We have come seeking to hear about the King.

People of God why have you come here?

We have come to listen and to contemplate, to pray and to sing.

People of God, why have you come here?

We have come to be refreshed, to find our way back to the Way of Wisdom, to be re-energized for the week that is to come.

God, in this time together,

remind us that we do not always need to be like other people. Remind us that there is an alternative path. Remind us that whatever other leaders we may have, you are the One who we are called to follow.

God, as we sing and pray and listen,

fill our hearts and minds and lives with the possibilities of Your Kingdom. And send us back out to live and serve.

We pray in the name of Jesus, the one we call Your Anointed One, who taught his friends to pray by saying...

COMMISSIONING

We have come to be reminded who our King truly is!

And now we return to the mission field where we live and serve.

We return to that mission field with a task. We are called to carry the love of God in our hearts, our faces, our actions.

And in doing that, may we bring honour to the name of the King.

Go with God who Creates, Redeems, and Sustains.

Always and All Ways. Amen.