For October 3, 2021, Worldwide Communion, Proper22B (Focusing on Job)

CALL TO WORSHIP
May the Peace of Christ be with you!
And also with you!
The God who invites us to the table,
The God who speaks to our hearts
The God who challenges and comforts us
Invites us to gather together for worship, for prayer, for renewal.
Come, now is the time to worship...

OPENING PRAYER
God of life and love,
we open our hearts and souls, our very beings, to your presence.
God made known in the love of family and friends,
renew our hearts, renew our capacity to love our friends and neighbours, families and enemies.
God who invites us to and serves us at the table of faith,
as we sing and pray and eat together, move in us, renew our vision of what the world could be.
God who promises that we are never alone,
when our time of worship concludes lead us back into the world to share the promise of love and hope and Shalom.
We pray in the name of Jesus, the Christ, who shows us the path of Kingdom living.
Amen

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God, when we are honest there are a lot of things we don’t really understand.
So help us, please.
We want life to be fair, for people to deserve what they get.
But so often that is not the reality.
Bad things happen to good people, good things happen to bad people.
And we don’t think that is fair – especially when bad things happen to us.
We want to believe there is a plan, a reason and a logic to life.
But the plan is hard to understand, the logic hard to see at times.
Random chance and coincidence seem to shape so many things.
And so we lament, we fret, we get angry.
God of Grace, God of Presence, hear our prayers,
our laments, our confusion, our anger
...time of silent prayer...
When life seems neat and orderly God is there. When life seems random and unfair God is there. God is there to offer love and comfort, support and strength. With Grace God absorbs our tears and rage and bewilderment, then leads us onward into another day.
Thanks be to God. Amen.

COMMISSIONING
As our time of worship closes,
our time of service continues.
The world around us sometimes seems unfair,
and still we choose to love and serve each other
still we choose to be faithful, to trust in God
still we choose to be who Christ calls us to be, people of Shalom, citizens of God’s Country.
Go out to love and serve in the name of God made known as Parent, as Child, and as Holy Spirit
Go to love and serve trusting that you are never alone, for God is with you.
Thanks be to God! Amen