Calls To Worship
Words
Adapted from Psalm 12
Leader: Help, Lord, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.
People: Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception.
Leader: May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue that says, “We will
triumph with our tongues; we own our lips—who is our master?
People: Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now
arise, says the Lord. “I will protect them from those who malign them.”
Leader: And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay,
purified seven times.
People: O Lord, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever.
Bud Thoreen
Adapted from Psalm 54
Hear our prayers O God,
Listen to the words of our mouths.
Surely God is our help
The Lord is the one who sustains us.
We will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good.
Submitted by Austin D. Hill
Adapted from Luke 24:44-47a
Pastor: Jesus said, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
All: Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
Pastor: And Jesus said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
All: You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.”
Submitted by Dustin Ray (ESV, adapted for liturgical use)
Adapted from Romans 3:10-18
Pastor: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
All: Oh God, I hate to hear it, hate to know it, hate to say it: I am a sinner! I need you to forgive my sin. Please forgive me and love me like you love your Son, Jesus Christ. Make me a new person. Help me love you.
Submitted by Dustin Ray
Adapted from 1 Corinthians 13:1-8
Pastor: If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
All: Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Pastor: Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
All: Love never ends.
Submitted by Dustin Ray
Adapted from James 1:19, Ephesians 4:29, Proverbs 18:21, Psalm 19:14
Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,
but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
May these words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, LORD, our Rock and our Redeemer.
Stuart Strachan Jr.
Voice 1: Words!
Voice 2: By them the universe was created: planets and moons, stars and sky, all living things, day and night.
People: We come today to worship and adore the Creator of this world and this day.
Voice 1: Ancient words!
Voice 2: Words spoken long ago. The Scriptures we hold as central to the practice of our faith.
People: We come today to open the ancient words that will give us strength for our journeys.
Voice 1: Logos!
Voice 2: The Word through whom God created everything.
The light that shines in the darkness and will not be put out.
People: We come today to seek the Logos-Word of God revealed to us in Christ.
Voice 1: The Word!
Voice 2: Jesus Christ–the Bread of Life–known to us in brokenness. Through Christ, we celebrate One Bread and One Body
brokenness. Through Christ, we celebrate the One Bread and the One Body.
People: We come in our brokenness to become one body in Christ.
Voice 1: Living Word!
Voice 2: The Word that opens our eyes to recognize the Spirit of Christ. The Word that makes friends of strangers on the journey. The Word that warms our hearts with the Good News and sends us rejoicing.
People: We come to be changed–healed, reconciled, and revived–by the Living Word of God.
Voices 1 and 2: Come, friends, Let us go on a journey together. Let us be changed by the Word in our midst today. Let us sing and give praise to our God. And may the Church be resurrected again this day.
Michael-Ray Mathews, Call to Worship: in Brad Berglund Ed., Reinventing Worship: Prayers, Readings, Special Services and More.
Remember the promise of the Lord:
God will pour out the Spirit on all flesh.
The Spirit helps us in our weakness,
Interceding with sighs to deep for words.
The Spirit of God renews the earth.
Bless the name of the Lord!
Submitted by Austin D. Hill