Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Sunday prayers: Pentecost May 31

Approaching God

Welcome and Announcements

Gathering Song & Prelude

Hymn:

Confessional Prayer

Guide: All Powerful Lord, whose ways cannot be thwarted and whose words can never be extinguished, we gather before You as servants and children, as followers and disciples seeking Your wisdom and needing Your grace. Your will sustains the universe and Your sovereignty extends over our lives. We approach You humbly and sincerely, looking for Your favor and asking for mercy.

People:  Everlasting Father, we have failed to live up to our faith. We have ignored Your advice and sought our own counsel. We have set aside Your commands and indulged our own desires. We regret our past mistakes and for relying upon our selfish opinions and sinful ideas about life. We pray that You will enable us to recall Your greatness and honor Your sacred ways. Hear us now as we silently and sincerely confess our faults to You alone.

- SILENCE -

Guide: Merciful God, we are unworthy and unholy people, yet You still offer us pardon and restoration, forgiveness and renewal. We expose ourselves to Your judgment and place our souls into Your hands. For we know that our Savior Jesus has given His life for all our sins and that we are cleansed of all our sins and foolish ways. In His Name and through His words, we now pray, saying,  “Our Father, etc…THE LORD’S PRAYER (debts/debtors)

Promise of the Gospel

Guide:  We cannot tell Christ what to do or when to forgive us for our sins. We can only confess our faults and lay our lives at His mercy seat, hoping and expecting Him to cleanse our souls and renew our spirits.  So let us celebrate this great miracle in each of our lives - the miracle of complete forgiveness and eternal restoration.  Amen.

Gloria Patri(sung): Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen.

Family Sermon (parents and all children, including Elementary school students come forward)

Encountering God

Prayers for Health and Healing

 

Pastor:            Let us joyfully praise and bless the LORD with all the earth. We worship the LORD with gladness and come before Him with our prayers and pleas.

People:            We know that the LORD has made us and that He can grant us peace and pasture, help and healing. We abide in this holy place and wait for hope. We seek the LORD's favor for ourselves and all our loved ones.

Pastor:            The LORD is good and His love endures forever. He is faithful and gracious to all His people. Almighty Lord, we ask for health and healing, peace and calm, strength and salvation to come to us. Heal us and all for whom we pray from all that harms us in body, mind and spirit. Hear us now as we quietly pray.

 

Silent Prayers for others and ourselves. A candle is lit.

 

Pastor:            We remember the dearly departed and praise God for His love which endures both here on earth and heaven. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

                        (Healing prayer based on words & phrases from Psalm 100)

Choir Anthem
The Message: Part #1
Singing of ‘Jesus, Draw Me Close’

Prayer for Illumination:

Reader:           Holy Spirit, kingdoms and powers may rise and fall, but Christ's words will outlast them. Teach us His precious lesson for today and enable us who hear these holy scriptures to receive, ponder, and apply them in our daily lives. Through the name of Jesus, our Lord and Anointed One, we pray. Amen.

Scripture Readings

The Message: Part #2  & The Apostles’ Creed

Serving God

Offering & Offertory

Dedication(unison): Lord Jesus, You have blessed us in many ways so that our lives are both faithful and fruitful. Take these tithes and offerings that we cheerfully give to You. Set them aside for the preaching of the Gospel, the teaching of the truth, and the healing of Your people. In Your Holy Name, we give and pray. Amen.

Hymn:

 

Benediction(unison):  May Christ enable us to be tolerant of one another through His grace; may the Father remove our sinful obstacles and self-imposed barriers through His love; and may the Holy Spirit shower our souls with strength, faith, and charity, both now and forever. Amen.

 

Doxology        Praise God, from whom all blessings flow  & Postlude

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