Adapted from Joel 12:12-14

Leader: Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.

People: Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord Your God,

Leader: for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.

People: Come, Let us Worship the Lord.

Stuart Strachan Jr.

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Almighty and merciful God, the fountain of all goodness, who knows the thoughts of our hearts:

We confess that we have sinned against you.

Wash us, we implore you, from the stains of our past sins.

Give us grace and power to put away all offenses,

Being delivered from the bondage of sin, may we bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, and at last enter into your promised joy;

Through the mercy of your blessed One, Jesus Christ.

Amen.    

Alcuin, adapted.

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Adapted from Psalm 51

Leader: Have mercy on us, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out our transgressions.

People: Wash away all our transgressions, and our sin is always before us.

Leader: Against you, you only, have we sinned and done what is evil in your sight;

People: Cleanse us with hyssop, and we will be clean, wash us, and we will be whiter than snow.

Leader: Let us hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

People: Create in us a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within us.

Leader: Do not cast us from your presence, or take your Holy Spirit from us.

People: Restore unto us the joy of your salvation and grant us a willing spirit, to sustain us.

Stuart Strachan Jr.

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God, we come

with hesitant steps

and uncertain motives

to sweep out the corners

where sin has accumulated,

and uncover the ways

we have strayed from Your truth.

Expose the empty and barren places

where we don’t allow you to enter.

Reveal our half-hearted struggles

where we have been indifferent

to the suffering of others.

Nurture the faint stirrings of new life,

where your spirit has begun to grow.

Let your healing light transform us

into the image of Your Son.

For You alone can bring new life

and make us whole.

Christine Sine, GodSpace Blog

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In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John.

On this day we come from many different suburbs -to remember his story, to offer our worship and to give witness to our faith.

Gather us in, O God. Leaving the security of home, family and daily work

Jesus began a brave new journey; may we be willing to embrace new paths and new ways.

Gather us in, and invite us to venture out, O God.

Knowing that Jesus would have begun this journey with human fears and apprehensions, we find the freedom to admit that we are not always courageous.

Gather us in and give us courage, O God.

Jesus remained open to the Spirit all the way, so as we gather to hear the familiar stories of Lent and Easter, may we be willing to hear them address us in new ways,

Gather us in and grant to us receptive hearts and minds, O God.

Ann Siddall, Stillpoint Spirituaity Centre

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Only the hungry search for bread.

Only the thirsty look for water.

This is a place for those who are hungry and thirsty in spirit.

Only those who ache for meaning will pursue it.

Only those who yearn for a deeper life will seek it.

This is a place for those who ache and yearn for something more.

So let us come here today with our hunger and thirst,

our unsatisfied longings, our heart-felt yearnings,

and let the God of life satisfy our souls.

Ann Siddall, Stillpoint Spirituaity Centre

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