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Call to Worship (based on Psalm 66:8-20)

L: Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard,
P: you has kept us among the living, and have not let our feet slip.
L: For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.
P: I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will pay you my vows,
All: Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.
L: Come, let us worship the LORD!

 

Prayer for a heart of outreach

The time that you give to each one of us is precious time O God. In it we find a foretaste of the eternal. Thank you, Lord, for giving the human person an opportunity to find you and to be reconciled to you. Empower us by your Spirit so that we might be people who have a heart for the world.  Grace our hands with kindness, our hearts with compassion, our minds with goodness, and our wills with a holy resolve. Hear our prayer O Lord, and help us be mindful of the shortness of the time we have upon this earth and so to live in your presence that we might be found righteous before you.  Make us instruments of your salvation and channels of your peace. We pray, O God, for others around us - that your love and wisdom may touch them - and that they too may come to know the living water of Christ which truly quenches all thirst. This we pray in the name of Jesus, the one who came to us and who even now walks with us on our journey. Amen

 

Prayer of Confession:

L: God's love for the world has been revealed in Jesus Christ, who loved us to the uttermost and gave up everything, even his life, for you and me.  God calls us through the words of St Paul to exercise self-control in all things and to give our lives as a living sacrifice unto God. Today we confess that we have not kept our focus on God's promise, we confess that we have not run the race with all our strength. Let us confess our sin to God:

L: Merciful God, we confess that so often our discipleship has been weak . . .

• L When we have failed to serve as Jesus served;
  P: forgive us, o Lord.
                                        (silent prayer)
   
• L: When we have failed to love one another as Jesus loves us;
  P: forgive us, o Lord.
                                         (silent prayer)
   
• L: When we have been happy to proclaim our devotion to Jesus with our lips and then denied him by our actions;
• P: forgive us, o Lord.
                                          (silent prayer)
   
• L: Merciful God, empower us by your Spirit to be steady and true to you in every time of trial; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Prayer of Acclaim to the Suffering Christ-- Saint Gregory the Great

O Lord, you received affronts without number from your blasphemers, yet each day you free captive souls from the grip of the ancient enemy.

You did not avert your face from the spittle of perfidy, yet you wash souls in saving waters.

You accepted your scourging without murmur, yet through your meditation you deliver us from endless chastisements.

You endured ill-treatment of all kinds, yet you want to give us a share in the choirs of angels in glory everlasting.

You did not refuse to be crowned with thorns, yet you save us from the wounds of sin.

In your thirst you accepted the bitterness of gall, yet you prepare yourself to fill us with eternal delights.

You kept silence under the derisive homage rendered you by your executioners, yet you petition the Father for us although you are his equal in divinity.

You came to taste death, yet you were the Life and had come to bring it to the dead. Amen.

Prayer to imitate the suffering Christ

O Jesus, you have called us to suffer as you have suffered for us, leaving us an example that we might follow. When you were insulted, you did not return the insult. When you were mistreated, you did not counter with threats, but entrusted yourself to the One who judges justly. By your wounds we are healed. Help us to imitate you in suffering. Help us to be so firmly grounded in the way of the cross, that we may no longer live according to the flesh but according to the will of our Creator God. Having walked on this earth and having died a gruesome death for us, you are able to bring aid to all who suffer and are tempted. We entrust ourselves to you, knowing that you will never fail us. Amen.

Closing Prayer (Traditional Pakistani Prayer)

O Creator and mighty God,
You have promised strength for the weak,
rest for the laborers, light for the way,
grace for the trials, help from above,
unfailing sympathy, undying love.
O Creator and mighty God,
help us to continue in your promise.  Amen.