September 4, 2022
Jeremiah 18:1-11
“Like Clay”

Call to Worship
One: Like clay, we arrive at this time of worship:
Many: Shapeless and full of potential, we arrive.
One: Like clay, we prepare for this time of worship:
Many: Stretched and twisted into formation, we prepare.
One: Like clay, we enter this time of worship:
Many: Formed and ready for warmth, we enter. 

Invocation
One: Let us pray.
Many: Loving Creator, maker of everything good, we are in your hands. Be with us now as we gather ourselves to seek your wisdom and strive to become the people you would have us be.

Confession & Assurance
Unlike clay, we actively resist the diverse ways you shape us into what the world needs. We frequently struggle to trust in your vision for who we could become. We anxiously avoid facing the heat that protects and sustains us. We humbly confess to these and all our shortcomings. 
<observe a brief stretch of silence>
God graciously chooses us despite our self-destructive ways. God repeatedly mends our broken places and unceasingly delivers us from harm toward wholeness. All thanks be to God!

Call to Offering
The cost of discipleship is bold and radical. It requires a countercultural giving of possessions and self. Let us risk the safety of ordinary and choose to build with God by sharing our tithes, offerings, and our very selves.

Prayer of Dedication
Holy Giver of all Gifts, we thank you for this opportunity to share our gifts and participate in the various ministries you’ve placed before this faith community. Bless these monies and each one of us as we go back out to continue your work in the world. Amen.

Benediction
Before your birth, you were wonderfully and fearfully formed. Like clay, may God continue to reform and reshape you into your truest self, now and every day after. Amen.

Like Clay: Service Prayers for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost were written by The Rev. Phiwa Langeni, the Ambassador for Innovation & Engagement for the UCC’s CARDD and the Founder of Salus Center in Lansing, MI.