Call to Worship

Beloved, we gather today as inheritors of faith in God’s salvific work, a faith handed down to us over generations that we claim and proclaim today in this community.

By faith, we follow God’s call as we journey toward a better country.

By faith, our grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, and friends shared God’s love with us, a love that longs to draw us all as members of the Body of Christ.

By faith, we follow God’s call as we journey toward a better country.

By faith, we remember the story today, the story of God’s desire for all creation to be reconciled to God and one another.

By faith, we follow God’s call as we journey toward a better country.

By faith, we carry the faith forward, building a community of belonging, provision, and care as we journey with God toward a better country.

By faith, we gather to nourish and encourage one another on the journey toward a better country as we build God’s already-but-not-yet kingdom here and now. Amen.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, February 2024.

Prayer for the Day

Now faith is
the assurance of things hoped for,
the conviction of things not seen.
We come convinced of many things
but trusting very few.

Holy God of limitless surprises,
meet us here
in this place
as we touch that which we cannot see,
that which we have not dared to hope.

Written by Katherine Hawker. Posted on Liturgies Outside. Re-posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2013/07/opening-prayers-hebrews-11.html.

Prayer of Confession

God of Abraham and Sarah, God of Jesus Christ, God of our mothers and fathers, you are a God who acts in history. Yet we confess that we are too busy with our own lives to perceive you at work in our time. We fall into fear and despair about our troubled world, as if you had no care for us. Forgive our lack of faith and help us to join you as you labor to bring new life on earth; in the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Written by Ruth C. Duck, Touch Holiness: Resources for Worship, Updated, ed. Ruth C. Duck and Maren C. Tirabassi (Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2012), 117.

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Benediction

Children of God, by faith, God has brought us this far. Go now in the blessing of the God who goes before you and behind you, surrounding you on all sides with grace as we journey toward a better country in our neighborhood, our community, and beyond. Amen.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, February 2024.