Call to Worship

Welcome pilgrims on the way to the cross.
We are learning to follow Jesus.

The journey is long, and the burden of our sins and struggles feels so heavy.
Yet we will hope in God because with God, there is steadfast love.

All around us, we witness neighbors and communities who are lifeless, despairing that they could ever be revived.
Yet God tells us that to come back to life, we must come together.

Year after year of change and struggle have taken their toll—how can anyone bring forth life when we feel so parched and tired?
Yet God meets the lifeless with the breath of life, reviving us again to worship and follow God’s way.

Pilgrims on the way, come let us worship God!
We come to worship God as we learn to live inside out! Amen.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Director of Worship Arts, August 2022.

Prayer of Confession

God, you created us in your own image and loved us regardless of our race and tribe. You said in 1 John 44:20, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.’”

We seek your forgiveness, dear God, because we have lied to our brothers and sisters, saying that we love them when, in fact, we have segregated. Dear Jesus, help us love one another regardless of race or tribe. Teach us to love unconditionally. Teach us to know that through Jesus Christ we are one tribe, one race, and one in Christ.

We thank you, Lord, that you loved us first. May your grace enable us to love one another. In Jesus Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.

Written by Juliet Nabukalu, “We Are One Tribe, One Race,” from Racial Justice Prayers of Repentance, https://r-squared.squarespace.com/library/racial-justice-prayers-of-repentance.

Prayers of the People

This prayer can be used as is in a worship service or incorporated into a larger prayer practice. Consider giving congregants a piece of paper as they enter the worship space. During an opening time of welcome or prior to the call to worship, invite congregants to write on their piece of paper one person or place they witnessed struggling or suffering this week. If you have an online/hybrid worship service, invite participants online to share in the comments or in the chat. Before beginning the prayers of the people, gather the pieces of paper in offering plates or by having congregants bring their pieces of paper forward to place them on the prayer railing or the altar. Then begin:

We live in a world full of need and sorrow, risk and struggle, hope and despair. So, as we remember all those in need of prayer in our community and in our world, I ask you:

People of God, can these dry bones live?
These bones are hungry, thirsty, and tired. Yet only God knows if these bones can live.

People of God, can these dry bones live?
These bones are suffering and in trouble. Yet only God knows if these bones can live.

People of God, can these dry bones live?
These bones face harmful division in families and communities. Yet only God knows if these bones can live.

People of God, can these dry bones live?
These bones struggle for life in a world threatened by war and rumors of war, by violence of every kind. Yet only God knows if these bones can live.

People of God, can these dry bones live?
These bones inhabit an earth that needs attention, care, and responsible stewardship. Yet only God knows if these bones can live.

People of God, these bones are all of us. Now hear the good news: God breathes on us that we may live and that we may share this new life with our community through God’s grace and love.
Thanks be to God, who gathers and breathes the Breath of Life into our dry bones. Amen.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Director of Worship Arts, August 2022.