CALL
TO WORSHIP
Children
of God! Gather in this place!
We
come to worship with our brothers and sisters in faith.
Children
of God! Come to break bread together!
We
come to worship with friends new and old.
As
we gather together to share the Word and the Meal we turn and greet
friend and stranger with words and signs of peace
OPENING
PRAYER
God
of community, as we gather together,
open
our hearts, our souls, our very beings to feel your presence.
God
of community, as we break bread together,
remind
us that those things which bring us together are more important than
those which divide us.
God
of community, we come as people who know brokenness in our lives,
remind
us of the love which surrounds us, restoring wholeness, naming us as
clean, bringing us back together in community.
God
of community, when this time of worship is ended,
send
us back out to share the Good News of the Christ who names us clean,
the love which will never let us go.
This
we pray in the name of Jesus, the one we call Christ. Amen.
PRAYER
OF CONFESSION AND CLEANSING
God,
you created the world and said “it is very good”.
So
why are we so quick to find fault with each other and ourselves?
God
you offer us cleansing in a way that is so simple we can hardly
believe it.
So
why do we have trouble hearing that we are clean and acceptable?
God
for those times when we lose our way,
those
times when our motives or our actions are less than pure, possibly
even unclean.
we
seek cleansing, we seek to reminded that we are accepted in the
community,
even
when we aren't sure it is possible.
God
of life, God of Grace, God of Renewal,
for
those times when we are less than we could be, for those times when
we stray from the path of wisdom, for the times when we fail to live
out the goodness inherent in our creation, forgive us
...time
of silent prayer...
Jesus
looked at the unclean in his world with pity and said “I do choose,
be made clean”. Christ looks at us in our brokenness and offers us
cleansing, renewal, and health. We are a forgiven, cleansed, and
purified people.
Thanks
be to God! Amen.
COMMISSIONING:
We
have immersed ourselves in the river of God's Love.
We
stand soaked in love, with the excess dripping off us.
We
have eaten at God's table.
Fed
in body and in soul, we go to share the Bread of Life with the world.
As
those who have been reminded that in God's love we are made clean
We
return to a world where too many are made to feel unclean,
unaccepted, unlovable; called to remind them that they too are clean,
accepted and loved.
We
go in God's name, confident of God's love, living in God's grace.
Thanks
be to God!
