GATHERING
ENTRANCE
REFLECTION
Through your radical surrender to God
you will be freed and become a deliverer of others,
a breath of fresh air for those you meet, a servant of all,
a source of life, expectation and hope.
How can this be?
Based on Rule for a New Brother by H. Van Der Looy
Simple lenten altar with Peter Bankson’s crocheted Jesus on the cross.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: We come together knowing that this is God’s world.
Voice 1: We come together even when the pain persists.
Voice 2: We come to gather in the City of God.
Leader: Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“No one can see the city of God
without being born from above.”
All: We want to be born from above,
to be Christ’s body in the world.
Leader: How can this be?
INVOCATION
HYMN
WORD FOR THE CHILDREN
SILENCE
RESPONSIVE READING
Leader: From the depths I call to you,
Hear my cry.
People: Catch the sound of my voice
raised up, pleading.
Leader: I trust in God’s word.
I trust in the Holy One.
All: More than those who watch for the morning,
I watch for the Holy One.
SILENCE
PRAYERS
COMMON CONFESSION
Leader: Merciful Forgiver,
grace and understanding are often lacking in us.
People: We rely too much on ourselves
and easily forget to turn to you.
Leader: We are not aware. We are blind in heart.
We do wrong.
All: We take others to task for small mistakes
and overlook greater ones in ourselves.
INDIVIDUAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION
ASSURANCE
Leader: It is glorious to be human.
God gloried in becoming one of us.
Be joyful in our humanity
in which God became incarnate.
PRAYERS OF THANKSGIVING AND INTERCESSION
UNISON PRAYER
All: Holy One, we come today
to claim our relationship with you.
We pray for the commitment to grow together,
sharing the gifts you give us with others
here and in the wider world.
Give us strength and discipline
to nurture our relationship with You;
to care for every part of Your Creation;
to foster justice and be in solidarity with those in need;
to work to end all war, and violence, and discord;
and to respond joyfully when you call,
freely giving our selves as you have shown the way.
We open our hearts to you and your Creation
in the name of Jesus, who is the Christ.
Amen.
HYMN
THE WORD
SCRIPTURE
SERMON
SILENT REFLECTION
OFFERING
SHARED REFLECTIONS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
HYMN
BENEDICTION
Leader: Free yourself from a world
that seeks only pleasures and possessions.
Set yourself against everything that makes us slaves.
Bring others to share your freedom.
How can this be?
People: Amen
______________________
WORSHIP RESOURCES
Responsive Reading adapted from the 1994 translation of psalm 130 by the International Committee on English in the Liturgy
Confession based on Thomas a Kempis from The Imitation of Christ
Assurance based on Thomas Merton from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
Benediction based on Rule for a New Brother by H. Van Der Looy
