Call to Worship

This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.
What can I offer to the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will give you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and offer my prayers to you. In the assembly of all your people I will give you everything: praise the Lord.

Opening Prayers

The universe, O Lord, is yours for you made it. From end to end of its billions of light years span, it is yours and it is filled with the evidence of your power, your wisdom, and your creative mystery. This tiny inconspicuous planet circling round a minor star in one galaxy in trillions, is your gift to us, our home. And it is filled with wonder and it is suffused with your love. To our home you came yourself in Jesus and showed us that love, played out in human years and human lives, in sacrifice and self giving, in resurrection and new life, in promise and in hope. What can we offer to the Lord for all his goodness? the Psalmist cried. But this planet our home we have desecrated, and turned your beauty into ugliness. We have done to others what we never want to be done to us. We have put a price tag on a human life and our pride knows no bounds. We have allowed injustice and meanness to go unchallenged and turned truth on its head. And every day Christ has been crucified again. God, your love is so amazing that even we and everyone in this world can be forgiven, even pain dealing humanity can know the peace of pardon. May we know it now for ourselves, our church, our city, our world, and knowing it, rejoice in hope.