Alive with God in the Mystery of Christ
Service Prayers for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 12 (Inclusive)

Hosea 1: 2-10       Psalm 85         Colossians 2:6-15 (16-19)          Luke 11:1-13

Call to Worship

Leader              We come abounding in thanksgiving:

People             For in Christ we find in all fullness

                                    the holiness

                                    the justice

                                    the hope of God. 

                        We come abounding in thanksgiving:

                        To feel God’s life in us

                                    flowing through our roots in Christ

                                    and establishing our faith.

                        We come abounding in thanksgiving:

                        To celebrate the mystery of God-with-us:

                                    Christ, who lives fully in us

                                    and in whom we fully live.

All                   Let us welcome the One who was sent

                        to make us alive in the fullness of God.    Amen.

Invocation

                        God, we know you will come to us and give us what is good.

                        Let your glory till the landscape of our hearts

                        so that it will yield an increase of love for you.

                        Speak peace to us, your faithful, and to all who yearn for you.

                        Like Hosea of old, help us to be willing to do as you ask,

                        That we may rejoice to be children of the living God. 

                        For we know that as we ask, it will be given

                        and as we knock, the door will be opened to us. 

                        Come, bring your goodness to us your children.  Amen.

Prayer of Confession

                        St Paul’s reminder to the people of Colossae

                        holds true for us today:                       

                        that many false teachings at work in the world

                        may tempt us away from God with

                        “fascinating philosophies and empty deceits”;

                        let us think for a moment of what form they might take in our lives.

Silent reflection.....

                        If you wish, name out loud some of these “philosophies and deceits”                                      

                        that divert us from God.  (e.g. Advertising promises,)

                        Let us pray together Christ’s most true teaching:

                        The Lord’s Prayer

Assurance of Pardon

                        Our hearts are full when we remember           

                        That God made us alive with Christ,

                        forgiving us all our trespasses, and

                        erasing the record that stood against us. 

                        Paul tells us that God set our sin aside, nailed it to the cross.

                        Rejoice together that in the company of the risen Christ

                        we are fully forgiven.

Offering Invitation

            We have been taught to pray to Creator God

            and to join in the coming of the Kin-dom. *

            The persistence of the work requires our generous gifts. 

            God's humble workers for compassion and justice on earth,

            Let us offer our and gifts at this time.

Dedication

            Thank you, God, for the opportunity to do your will and

            to co-create with you on earth as in heaven. 

            Take these gifts we bring for your purposes. 

            Thy Kin-dom Come.....

Benediction

            In the hallowed name of God,

            let us go out with prayer and a sweet thanksgiving. 

            God calls us out into a world that is sorely in need of both. 

            Daily let us offer to the earth and its people

            the fullness of God’s joy, justice and peace which we have in Christ.

* “Kin-dom” is a term which has recently come into use as a name for the Reign of God; it suggests a time when God is all in all, and all of creation is in a relationship of justice and peace.

Alive with God in the Mystery of Christ: Service Prayers for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost was written by the Rev. Catherine Rolling, of Portland, OR and Greenville, WV, a United Church of Christ minister and a spiritual director, currently gardening and discerning/seeking a call.

Copyright 2010 Local Church Ministries, Congregational Vitality and Discipleship Ministry Team, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH  44115-1100.  Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education.  All publishing rights reserved. 

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