Calls to Worship
by the Rev. Leslie Penrose

I

One: At God’s table of justice, everyone has a place and none are turned away. 
 
All: Here strangers are welcomed as friends, the poor sit alongside the rich, and the upside-down kin-dom of God is revealed.

One: At God’s table of abundance, a banquet of righteousness and liberation is set for all. 
 
All:   Here the powerless are heard; the outcast are showered with honor, and the inside-out kin-dom of God is revealed.

One:  At God’s table of life, all peoples know peace and creation flourishes.
 
All:   Here the hopeless are nourished with possibility, the complacent are transformed into advocates for change. Here in our very midst the kin-dom of God is revealed.

II 

One:   We gather to worship together,

All:    Different people, different lives, different histories,

One:   Yet all children of the same Parent,

All:    Created lovingly by the Source of all life!

One:   We gather to reconnect with one another,

All:    Different people, different lives, different histories,

One:   Yet all disciples of one Teacher.

All:  Jesus, the Word made flesh, dwelling among us.

One:   We gather with different joys and sorrows, different hopes and fears....

All:    Different people, different lives, different histories,

One:   Yet one people with one God, one faith, one baptism.

All:    Let us open ourselves to the presence of God at work in us, among us, and through us. 

III

One: We come, God of the Journey, a people from different places, different histories, different lifestyles.

All: We come hoping to find companionship for the journey, solidarity for the struggle. 

One: We gather, God of Hospitality, around your “welcome table,* a table not yet round, but rounding,

All:    We gather seeking to become a “‘round-table people, welcoming of all, with no preferred seating, no firsts and no lasts, ....and no corners for ‘the least of these’ “  (Chuck Lathrop)

One: We yearn, God of the Rainbow, for a new way of living and relating... as neighbors not strangers, as brothers and sisters not ‘them and us’.

All: We yearn to live fully celebrating both the diversity of our human family, and the unity of our call to love and justice.

One: We hunger, God of Abundant Life, for lives that have meaning and integrity, and for relationships grounded in mutuality and respect.

All: We thirst for places to bring our doubts, our fears; places to express honestly who we are. We thirst for hope and encouragement as we struggle to follow Jesus in the way of life-risking love.

One: With the gift of your grace we are nourished.

All: With the promise of your presence may we be strengthened to be faithful. Amen.