Scripturally Based Service Resources (Epiphany 5C)

Epiphany 5C

Call to Worship (an antiphonal meditation on Luke 5:1-11)
L: God surprises us. Even through long, lonely nights, the morning dawns,
P: The light shines, life is renewed, hope springs forth and we rejoice.
L: God surprises us. Experience teaches us that life is a struggle and that we should
prepare to deal with scarcity.
P: But God surprises us with abundance. God surprises us with enough. Praise
God!

Collect (a unison prayer adapted from Psalm 138)
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, O God,because you love us faithfully,beyond our knowing or comprehension. We bow our grateful souls, if not our bodies,
because you hear us when we call upon you in prayer. You strengthen our faith and give us the courage to love as you call us to love. We pray for the time when all people and nations will praise you, when all rulers and governmental leaders will practice your ways of peace, when the high and mighty are not too high and the poor and lowly are not too low. You love the poor and keep the rich at arms length from your grace. Help us also to love as you love and think as you think. You are with us always, O God. You help us when we are in trouble. You come to our rescue when we are in distress. We pray for you to remember us with you love. Trouble is always near. Danger is ever present. Remember us in faithfulness and keep your promises to save us. We thank, praise and glory you for your great goodness everyday.
Amen.

Prayer of Confession (a unison prayer adapted from Psalm 138)
You are loving and faithful, O God. You have welcomed us into your family and called
us to be your trusted people. We thank you and praise you and give you the glory. We
pray, though, that our praise may not be with our lips only, but with our very lives. Grant that we thank and glorify you from the understanding that you want us to care for the poor as you do. We pray that you give us the courage to remind those who lead us that you are God and not they. We plead that you give us the confidence to love even in the midst of hatred, to trust in your ways even when we are tempted to worship the gods of wealth and power, and to hope in your mercy. Save us, O God, because there is safety in no other. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon (adapted from Psalm 138:8)
L: God loves us faithfully and promises to deliver us from trouble.
P: God fulfill your purpose for us; your steadfast love endures forever. Do not
forsake the work of your hands.

Commission (an antiphonal meditation on Isaiah 6:1-8)
L: Sometimes God calls to us –to you and to me. Sometimes God calls us when we are
alone, sometimes in the midst of a crowd. But sometimes God calls.
P: God give us the eyes to see, the ears to hear, and the hearts to understand your call when it comes.
L: When God calls we may see visions of angels, or we may feel a burning inside, a
yearning to speak up for God. When God speaks we may feel unworthy.
P: Who am I that God would trust me to serve, to minister, and to proclaim God’s love?
L: Whom shall I send? God asks. And who will go for us?
P: Help me to say with confidence, “Here am I, send me.”

Benediction (an antiphonal meditation on I Corinthians 15:1-11)
L: Remember our faith and take the hope that is within us with you as you leave today.
P: Christ came, died and rose again to free us from death in order to live. Christ
has appeared to women and men ever since.
L: We have heard of Jesus, and would see him in all that we do.
P: We would take on Christ’s humility and mercy, and would commit ourselves to
loving and serving others.
L: We have experienced grace, and would go out rejoicing that God in Christ is with us
at all times, in all places and with all people.
U: We give all blessing and honor, glory and power to the Holy One, our God.
Amen.