Sing Praises

Liturgical Resources

Call to Worship

Children of God, some of us come today with songs of joy, rejoicing at all God has done for us.
We come to remember God’s steadfast love and faithfulness.

Some of us come today with songs of mourning in our hearts, feeling the weight of loss, isolation, and loneliness.
We come to remember God’s steadfast love and faithfulness.

Some of us come today with songs of worry and distress, overwhelmed by the troubles and the sufferings of the world.
We come to remember God’s steadfast love and faithfulness.

In our joy, our sorrow, our isolation, and our worry, God is faithful!
We come to sing God’s praises, for in all things, God’s steadfast love and faithfulness never fail. Thanks be to God! Amen.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, May 2026.

Opening Prayer
Liberating God, 
we seek your journey. 
With parted waters, 
set us free. 
With cloud and fire, 
guide us. 
With gushing waters, 
quench our thirst. 
With food from heaven, 
feed us. 
Draw us out with joy and singing, 
that we might know your ways. Amen.

Posted on the Ministry Matters website. Re-posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2011/09/prayer-of-invocation-psalm-105.html.

Prayer of Confession

God is with you, Christ is present, 
the Holy Spirit surrounds you and unites us all. 
But we have turned our eyes to the challenges of this life, 
lost our focus on God, and are sinking in sin.

You can begin again. 
Imagine a new way of being. 
We have cast aside our dreams to maintain the familiar. 
We have cast aside the dreams of others, fearful of what they might mean. 
 

God loves you, 
Christ will lift you from the waves of doubt, 
and the Holy Spirit will rescue you from currents of insecurity and alienation.
In these moments of quiet reflection, confess to God all that separates you from God and one another.

(Offer silent prayers of confession)

Assurance of Pardon 
Take heart, do not be afraid. 
Every one who calls upon God’s name will be saved. 
We are forgiven. 
Thanks be to God! Amen.

Written by Rev. Dr. Bob Gross and posted on the Worship Ways website of the United Church of Christ at https://www.ucc.org/worship-way/pentecost_10_august_9/.

Benediction

Go from this place with joy,
giving thanks to God,
proclaiming His goodness,
celebrating His love,
and worshipping Him with your lives.

For God is faithful to a thousand generations.
And may the blessing of God Almighty,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
be with you and among you
in the days ahead. Amen.

Adapted from “Commission & Benediction: Psalm 105” on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2011/07/commission-benediction-psalm-105.html.