Call to Worship

L: Even though we don’t always feel it, God is with us.

P: The darkness and doubt of the world can threaten to consume us.

L: Yet God is with us.

P: All around us, there is fear and hopelessness.

L: God brings to us hope and peace. We place our trust in God’s abundant love.

P: Let us freely and without fear open our hearts to God’s healing words of hope. AMEN.

Nancy C. Townley, “Call to Worship 4,” Worship Connection: November 6, 2022, Ministry Matters, https://www.ministrymatters.com/worship/entry/4369/worship-connection-november-10-2019.

Prayer

Most Holy and Powerful God, we take courage today that you will provide all we need to keep your presence at the center of our work to rebuild this church and the community around us for your glory. We need you today to shake the heavens and the earth. Shake the trees and the dry land. Shake the hearts and souls, pockets, wallets, and pocketbooks of all of us here and those around us. Shake us so that our earthly treasures and heavenly investments would be released freely to carry out your purposes. All we have needed, you have provided. Now, may we provide all you need for this temple, our own temples, and this community to be whole. As we bring our gifts to you, instill in our souls the fact that our silver is yours and our gold is yours, no matter how much or how little we have. And unlike prosperity pimps who spend too much time preaching garbage, may we know that as we prosper you, you will prosper us, not for our own selfish gain, but for the sole purpose of positioning us to prosper others in need. For we are blessed to be a blessing! We thank you and we praise you. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen!

Joseph W. Daniels Jr., The Africana Worship Book for Year C (Discipleship Resources, 2008), 182.

Prayer of Confession

God of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, we barely remember all that has gone before. Our memories of former glory are filtered through so many experiences, through joy and through pain. Our today is blurred by our anxieties and our fears, and we cannot always see what you are doing in our midst. Forgive our shortsightedness. Forgive our focus on a misremembered history. Forgive our reluctance to embrace what you are bringing to life among us.

Your prophet asks us to take courage and know that you are with us, that your spirit abides among us. Remind us that you abide not in buildings but in the people who call on your name. Help us trust in the splendor that will come as we continue to build up the body and to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Derek Weber, April 2025

Benediction: Haggai 2: 4-5

Hear again the promise God made to his people long ago:

Do not be discouraged!
Be strong and courageous.
Keep working,
for I am with you.
My Spirit remains with you
and is living among you.
So do not be afraid!

“Benediction,” re:Worship, https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2013/10/benediction-haggai-1-4-5.html.