February 8, 2025
Epiphany 5A
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)| "Remove the Yoke"

Call to Worship
Leader:
Shout it out—no holding back!
People:
There is truth that needs to be spoken.

Leader:
Let the people rise and hear it.
People:
We are listening. We stand ready.

Leader:
Shout to the weary, the overlooked, the worn-thin:
People:
With courage, we gather.
With voices, we speak words of life.

Leader:
Shout to the hearts carrying hidden weight,
People:
The Holy One meets us here in our honesty.

Leader:
Shout to the systems that press people down,
People:
Their power is not the final word.

Leader:
A new song is rising—

People:
A song that frees,
A rhythm that restores,
A melody of reparation.

Leader:
Shout to the builders, the dreamers, the stubbornly hopeful:
People:
The time has come for burdens to lift,
For the grip of harm to loosen,
For the rebuilding what has been broken.

Leader:
Come, Beloved Community, Come.
bring your resolve, your compassion, your wide-awake faith.
All:
Let us worship the God who calls us
to remove every yoke.

Invocation
Calling Voice That Won’t Be Silenced,
we come into this moment carrying the weight of our days—
the strain we feel in our bodies,
the struggle we witness in our neighbors,
the burdens that press on our shared life.

Draw near to us now.
Gather our scattered breath.
Steady our trembling places.
Kindle in us a courage that does not look away.

You are the One who refuses empty rituals
and meets us instead in acts of mercy,
in the work of lifting burdens,
in the rebuilding of what has been harmed.

Open us now—
open our hearts to compassion,
open our imaginations to repair,
open our hands to the work of freeing one another.

Let this time be honest,
let this gathering be brave,
and let your Spirit move among us
with the power to uproot what harms
and to plant what heals.

We are here.
Speak to us.
Lead us.
Remake us for your justice and joy.
Amen.

Prayer for Transformation and New Life
Calling Presence who knows our hidden places,
we admit that we have not always chosen the path that frees.
We have stayed silent when truth asked for our voice;
we have protected our comfort when compassion asked for our hands;
we have waited for others to do the work you entrusted to us.

Loosen our resistance,
lift the habits that keep us from seeing one another clearly,
and break the patterns that bind us to what harms.

Teach us the courage to act with mercy.
Teach us the discipline of repair.
Teach us the way of releasing what we cling to
so that others may breathe more easily.

Let this moment mark a turning—
a turning toward your justice,
a turning toward your tenderness,
a turning toward the shared life you imagine for us.

In your grace,
make us new.
Amen.

Words of Grace
Hear the good news:

The One who calls us out in truth,
meets us not with shame,
but with mercy that lifts what is heavy
and compassion that steadies our steps.

When we turn toward justice,
God healing begins working in us.
When we loosen what harms,
God loosens the weight within us.
When we offer ourselves to repair,
God says to us, “Here I am.”

In this promise,
receive your freedom.
In this grace,
begin again.
Amen.

Invitation to Generosity
Faithful Friends of God,
The prophets tell us that devotion is revealed
in the way we lighten each other’s load—
right here, in our streets and neighborhoods,
where strain is real and hope needs partners.

When we give,
we join the work of lifting burdens
and repairing the places we call home.

Let our offering be simple and true:
open hands, willing hearts,
and commitment to our shared life.

Let us give.

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication
Calling Voice Who Leads Us Toward Freedom,
we give thanks for every gift offered today—
for open hands, willing hearts,
and the courage to imagine a shared life made whole.

Bless what we have brought.
Let it move where relief is needed,
where repair can begin,
where dignity can rise.

Make these gifts more than generosity—
make them instruments of justice,
seeds of compassion,
signs that your vision is taking root among us.

For every burden lifted,
for every neighbor tended,
for every act of mercy made possible,
we give you thanks.

Carry us forward in this work
with gratitude deep enough
to shape the world we are building together.
Amen.

Benediction
May the Way, Truth and Life go with you,
the Presence that unsettles what must change
and steadies what must endure.

Let the weight on your shoulders grow lighter,
not by forgetting it,
but by letting others walk beside you.

Carry within you a courage that listens deeply,
an imagination wide enough to rebuild ruins,
and a tenderness fierce enough
to unlearn every habit of harm.

And as you go—
into streets that need mending
and neighborhoods aching for breath—
may you hear the Holy murmur “Here I am”
in every shared burden,
in every act of mercy,
in every small unraveling of the yoke.

Go in boldness.
Go in gentleness.
Go in the sacred work of making all things whole.
Amen.

Remove the Yoke: Service Prayers for Epiphany 5A was written by Rev. Michael Anthony Howard, who serves as the Minister of Faith in Action for the Living Water Association, Ohio NorthEast, of the Heartland Conference, United Church of Christ. Michael’s work supports congregations as they weave theology, justice, and place-based ministry into faithful action that bears prophetic witness to God’s dwelling among us.