For March 22 -- Looking at the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats

CALL TO WORSHIP

May the Peace of Christ be with you

And also with you.

We have been called together in this place

To celebrate God's presence, to listen for God's wisdom, to be renewed as God's servants

As we gather to worship, let us greet each other with God's peace...

OPENING PRAYER

God of life, who calls us to be the church,

we gather together as a community to listen for how you are speaking to us today.

God of justice, who calls us to live lives of love,

we gather as a community of people who try to understand what that means day to day.

God of promise, who calls us to be people of hope,

we gather as people who are looking for signs that the Kingdom is being made real in our midst.

In this time of worship,

refresh us, challenge us, renew us.

We pray in in the name of the one who taught about the way of love, who challenges us to serve each other, and who taught us to pray by saying...

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE

God, when we look around we see so much need.

And we wonder how best to respond.

God we hear your voice in the old stories.

Challenging us to feed the hungry, to visit the lonely, to comfort the suffering.

Not in search of reward or payback,

but simply because it is the loving thing to do.

God of grace, we hear the voice, we understand the challenge,

but we find it hard to live out. God of grace, give us the grace to live the way of love.

...time of silent prayer...

God challenges us to be people of love. In grace God helps us along the way. In mercy, God works with us through our mis-steps and our mis-understandings. We are forgiven, set back on the path, and urged to try again. This is Good News.

Thanks be to God! Amen.