Call to Worship

We come seeking refuge in a world where goodness and good news can feel far away.

God is our hope and our refuge.

We come searching for safety in a world that often calls foolishness wisdom and wisdom foolishness.

God is our hope and our refuge.

We come longing for rest in a world that bombards us with all the ways people work against the abundant life and flourishing of their neighbors.

God is our hope and our refuge.

Come, children of God, to find refuge and hope in God who delivers and restores us.

May God teach us and guide us to find refuge and be refuge with and for our neighbors today and every day.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, April 2025.

Opening Prayer

This world would deny you, Lord,
and rely on human wisdom
in their search for answers
to questions they have yet to ask,
but we will praise you,
and exalt your name,
for we know that you are Alpha,
the beginning of all things,
and Omega,
the end,
and all that is between.
We have known your healing.
We have known your provision.
We have known your victory.
Our sorrow has turned into dancing
and our tears to songs of joy.
We shall praise you ever more. Amen

Written by John Birch and posted on Faith and Worship, http://www.faithandworship.com/. Re-posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2013/06/affirmation-alpha-and-omega.html.

Prayer of Confession

O Most Patient God,
we recognize how much we need you for life itself.
But how often have we behaved
as if we did not know or even care about you?
How often have we become the ones who do not carry out justice?
How often have we tried to dominate others,
even as you stand with them?
How often have we participated in the desolation of your creation
by our treatment of the heavens, the earth, and its waters?
Forgive us for these times when we have lost our way.
All Loving God, we want to be among those whom you seek.
Shower your mercy upon us.
Find us and lead us safely home to faithfulness.

Words of Assurance

My friends, when we are lost, all is not lost.
God is seeking us, ready to turn our lives around,
Gathering us in to the people of God.
Let us rejoice in God’s mercy! Amen.

Written by Henrietta Stith Andrews, in From Despair to Rejoicing: Service Prayers for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost. Posted on the Worship Ways website, http://www.ucc.org/worship/worship-ways/. Re-posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2013/08/confession-luke-15-1-10.html.

Benediction

May God bless you with the clarity to recognize the world as it is, the hope to dream God’s dream together, and the power to make God’s dream a reality here and now. Amen.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, April 2025.