Sermons

CALL TO WORSHIP - By Nancy C. Townley

 

L: Our lives are in the care of God.

L: This day we have come to praise and thank God for all that God has done for us.

L: Come, let us open our hearts to the Lord!

 

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER          ~ written by Richard Einerson,

(inspired by Psalm 107, Luke 12: 13-21)

 

Our gracious, eternal God, we bow to you who are from everlasting to everlasting. We thank you for that seed of uneasiness which you have placed within us which causes us to hunger and thirst for an inner peace which endures. Yet we often wonder on life’s journey and fail to find peace.

 

• We keep our eye upon those who are more successful and we become consumed by envy.
• We carry resentment against life’s unfairness.
• We long for a security which money might bring but fail to see that there is no way money can cure our inner discontent.

Bend your ear to us this day. Provide your healing touch and help us to redirect our search for security and peace. Establish our soul under your control.

 

• Help us always to remember that it is you who lend us life and that life is a gift.
• Help us to know that the purpose of life is always greater than believing that we have enough for tomorrow.
• Help us to remember that our resources also are only a gift and that we are only caretakers with a responsibility for the well-being of our sisters and brothers.
• Help us to remember that true riches do not lie in abundance but in being rich toward you who alone offer a peace which passes all understanding.

O God, we ask that you would transform us and provide us victory over all greed and earthly distractions. That you establish our hearts in the abundance of your grace as we remember the needs of your Beloved children.

 

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