Enter the Gates

Call to Worship

God is great, and greatly to be praised!

We thank you, God, for families and friends. We thank you for the warmth of kitchens, quilts, and good neighbors.

God, how great is your name throughout the earth!

We thank you, God, for newborn kittens and faithful dogs, for pine trees and sunlight and crisp, clean air.

Blessed be God, the rock of our salvation!

We thank you, God, for the sound of laughter and the touch of love, for brand new mornings and for dreams held close.

Let us come into God’s presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise with songs of praise. Come! Let us worship God.

Written by Janice Jean Springer, found in Touch Holiness: Resources for Worship, Updated, eds. Ruth C. Duck and Maren C. Tirabassi (Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim Press, 2012), 103-104.

Prayer for the Day

Creator God, who claims us as your own, we bring our full selves to worship today. Our happiness and our sorrow, our singing and our crying, our strengths, and our failures—we carry it all. Teach us to trust that your faithfulness endures in all the seasons and circumstances of our lives. Help us to know that all that we are is bound to you and teach us to rest on your steadfast love as the source of our gratitude and joy as we, your sheep, follow you wherever you lead. Amen.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, May 2023.

Prayer of Confession

Merciful God,

We confess that we neglect to acknowledge you as God in our lives.
We live like we have complete control over our own future.
We forget that you created us and that we are the sheep of your pasture.
We separate ourselves from the flock and abandon our bonds with one another as we try to do it all on our own.
We have traded gratitude for individualism and thanksgiving for self-reliance.
Forgive us, we pray.
Free us to live as your grateful people.
Offer silent prayers of confession.

Receive the good news:
God’s steadfast love endures forever!
While we were yet sinners, God made a way for us
to return to God and to return to one another.
By God’s grace, we are a forgiven and reconciled people.
Thanks be to God! Amen.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, May 2023.

Benediction

Invite congregants to turn and face the closest doorway and/or threshold.

As you prepare to cross the threshold from this place out into the world and as you encounter doorways and thresholds throughout your week, repeat this blessing:

May gratitude abound as I meet God and neighbor in this place.

Amen.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, May 2023.