January 28, 2024 		
The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany	
“The Works”

Call to Worship
We come to worship…
	Giving thanks with whole hearts…
			In the company of this congregation.
We worship the One who is gracious and merciful…
		Holy and awesome is God’s name!
			Let us worship God together!
---from Psalm 111 and Deuteronomy 18: 15-20
*This Call to Worship could be structured antiphonally (back and forth between a leader and congregation. It could be shared between two sides of a worship space, such as the side of a pulpit and the side of a lectern, if the pews and chancel are divided. Or it could be voiced as a round, with three groups alternating the three lines of each stanza, and one beginning before the other has not quite finished, to create an echo of praise. The voices could be further divided by generation: the voices of elders, the voices of in-betweeners, the voices of young people.

Invocation
Holy God, holy, gracious, and merciful we gather mindful of your covenant with us and all creation. We gather mindful of your wonderful deeds and your powerful work among us. Grant that we may be joined with all your creation in praising you in the name of the One who was, and is, and is to come.  Amen.

Prayer for Transformation and New Life
One/Presider: God invites us to come to worship with our whole hearts, to inventory our deeds and our works, mindful of our covenant with God. God offers us a new beginning day by day and week by week. Trusting in God, we pray for transformation and new life:
All: Gracious and Merciful God, maker of covenant, faithful and just, we examine our lives in light of your righteousness which endures forever. You give us commandments, raise up prophets among us from among our own people. You speak to us, and ask us to become accountable. Yet often we ignore your ways and disdain your works. We close ourselves to your prophets and to the suffering in our world. Forgive us and renew us, that we may walk in faithfulness to you today, tomorrow, and all days. Amen.
Words of Grace
One:. God’s righteousness endures forever, and God is mindful of God’s covenant with us. The promises of God’s covenant of grace assure us that this day and all days we can walk in renewed faithfulness, as we witness goods works, and follow God’s call.
All: thanks be to God, whose righteousness endures forever!

Invitation to Generosity
One: Just as God’s works are gracious and merciful, faithful and just, God calls us to works of grace, mercy, faithfulness and justice. The offerings we bring are a witness and a contribution to this church’s works in the world. May we freely share and participate in God’s work of grace and mercy, faith and justice.
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication
Let us pray: We worship with our whole hearts, and give with our whole hearts, remembering your covenant with us, O God. As we share these gifts, may they be for the work of faithful justice and gracious mercy through your church and in your world. Amen.
*This prayer can be offered by a pastor/presider; a congregational leader; a young person or elder, or in unison by the whole congregation.

Benediction
May the One whose righteousness endures forever,
Keep you in holy covenant with all creation,
And may you know God’s grace and mercy,
Forever and ever. Amen!