Scripturally Based Service Prayers

Lent 2c

Call to Worship (a meditation on the Lectionary Texts for Lent 2c)

L: God calls us to follow, and promises to lead and guide us.
P: God is good, a light that shines in the darkness of our fear, a sun that with the dawning gives courage and faith.
L: Let us worship God! Let us behold the One who comes to love, to heal and to save.
P: With prayers and songs, with open hearts and minds we praise God who is our light and our salvation.

Prayer of Confession (a meditation adapted from Psalm 27)

L: God of mercy help us to have courage in the face of great challenges.
P: Forgive us when we are afraid to do what is right. Forgive us when we give in to the easy way. Encourage us to talk openly, honestly, lovingly with one another.
L: Do not hide your face from us. Do not turn your servants away in anger, you who have been our help. Do not cast us off, do not forsake us, O God of our salvation!
P: Do not give us up to the will of our adversaries. Teach us your way, O God, and lead us on a level path.
L: Hear, O God, when we cry aloud, be gracious to us and answer us!
P: Help us to listen when our hearts tell us, "Come, seek God’s face!" And grant us the courage to respond, “Your face, God, do I seek.”

Assurance of Pardon (a meditation adapted from Psalm 27)

L: Wait for God; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for God!
P: I believe that I shall see the goodness of God in the land of the living.
L: God is our light and our salvation; whom shall we fear? God is the stronghold of our life; of whom shall we be afraid?
P: I believe and accept God’s grace in Christ and will seek to live life in a new way – loving, forgiving, serving and rejoicing.

Collect (a meditation adapted from the Lectionary Texts for Lent 2C)

God, gracious and kind, always with us, forever loving, forgiving, encouraging, reminding us of your promises: thank you for your constancy and your patience.

How often have we come to you in our nightly wanderings of anxiety, the tossing and turning of guilt, the wrenching of doubt and asked for you to prove your faithfulness yet again. Like Abram we want your assurance. Like Paul we are aware that enemies of our own faithfulness lurk all around, tempting us to doubt you. Like the psalmist we need constant reminders that you are our light and our strength, that we need not fear – any one or anything. Like Jesus bemoaning the faithlessness of his fellow citizens in Israel and the leaders of his homeland, we pray for the vision of your providence to keep our faith steadfast.

Open our hearts and minds always to the One who comes in your name to save us: that we may acknowledge your ministry of justice and righteousness and receive your message of grace. In the name of Christ we pray. Amen.

Commission (adapted from Philippians 3:17-4:1 and Psalm 27)

L: Brothers and sisters, join in imitating those faithful ones who have gone before, and observe those who live according to the example set by the all the godly followers of Christ.
P: Through faith we know that our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
L: Therefore, my brothers and sisters, with St. Paul I say, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved, behold the beauty of God, sing and make melody to God here in this sanctuary and as you go out into the world. Praise and glorify God in all that you do, think and say. For this is what God desires for you.
P: Thanks be to God! Amen!