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Call to Worship (based on Psalm 105)

L: O give thanks to the LORD, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples.
P: Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful works. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
L: Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually. 105:5 Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered.
P: He sent his servant Moses, and Aaron whom he had chosen that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws.
L: Come, let us praise the LORD!

 

Call to Worship (adapted from a call to worship for Pentecost 15 by Rev Moira Laidlaw, www.liturgiesonline.com.au)

L: If it were not for the presence of God-with-us; we would  lack the strength to
 overcome whatever threatens to engulf us.
P: Blessed be God who saves us from the destructive forces which surround us.
L: Praise God who hears and answers our calls for help.
P: Our help is  in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.

 

Prayer of Confession

Lord God Almighty, we long for the peaceable kingdom,
but violence lies so close to the surface of our inner lives.
And when we hurt, too often our first thought is to get even.
Even worse, O Lord, we too often are not even aware of the violence
in the complex systems of our social corporate life.
Forgive us Lord, and so lead us that daily we might know your peace,
which passes understanding,
and in the process become your peacemakers.
Through the power of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Poem: Anyway -- Mother Teresa  (from Meditations from a Simple Path)

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish motives.
Do good anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable.
Be honest and transparent anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People who really want help may attack you if you help them.
Help them anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt.
Give the world your best anyway.

 

Prayer of Acclaim to the Suffering Christ (Gospel Lesson)
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 of Commitment  (works with Matthew 16:21-28)

Jesus, you knew rejection and disappointment;
Help us if our work seems distasteful;
Help us to decide what best to do,
what next to do, or what to do at all.
Give us courage and cheerfulness to go the second mile,
And all the miles ahead.
Amen.

Prayer of Ignatius of Loyola (works with Exodus 12:3:1-15)

Teach us, Good Lord
To serve you as you deserve.
To give and not count the cost.
To fight and not heed the wounds.
To toil and not to seek for rest.
To labor and not to ask for any reward
Except that of knowing that we do Your Will.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

 

Benediction (Prayer for Empowerment, Ephesians 3:14-21)

I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.