If you are looking for some words to use for worship, or some inspiration for your own, here are some you can use or adapt, thanks to members of our RevGals community. If you can please give credit in video descriptions or print versions, that would be great, though spoken verbal attribution is not necessary
Call to Worship by Joanna Harader (based on Psalm 19)
The heavens declare
and we declare
the glory of God.
Our voices join the speech of creation
to tell of our known and unknowable God.
Now may these words of our mouths
and these meditations of our hearts
be pleasing in God’s sight
and life-giving in our world.
Call to Worship by Kathy Swaar (based on Psalm 19)
Glory! Glory! Glory!
The heavens are telling—
the skies announce your majesty, Creator God.
And we, too, respond with praise.
Morning stars and silvery moons
tell of your wisdom.
The silence of your Shalom
fills the earth.
And we, too, Sacred Presence,
lift our hearts in worship.
Glory! Glory! Glory!
Confession by Kathy Swaar (based on Psalm 19 and Exodus 20)
Your perfect law—if we will let it, Holy One—
revives, instructs, enlightens, sets free.
But, we confess, we don’t much like that word.
“Law” sounds too strict; too divisive;
too “Thou shalt not”; too judgmental.
And there’s already too much of that
going around these days.
Help us see past those narrow perceptions,
Father and Mother of Mercy,
to what you originally intended:
a way home; a blueprint for maintaining relationship,
which is at the heart of your heart.
Remind us that those words we see only as proscriptions
are in fact the framework that enables us to relate
in healthy ways, to one another and to you.
Forgive and heal us, Sacred Presence,
when we put people and things before you,
when flashy idols capture not just our attention, but our hearts.
Forgive us when we misuse your name,
and those of our brothers and sisters,
when we use words to deny, to denigrate, to criticize, to shame.
Forgive us for all the ways we dishonor
the Sabbath, our ancestors, the planet,
ourselves, and those we share our lives and world with.
May these words of confession, and the prayers of each heart,
be received and welcomed by you, Author of Life,
and may your grace and peace restore and fill us.
Prayer for Illumination by Teri Peterson (based on 1 Corinthians 1)
We are not foolish enough to say we are ready to be changed,
but we come to your word nonetheless, O God.
Where our hearts are hardened
by familiarity or apathy, disbelief or fear,
let the light of your word shine through the cracks and make us your faithful people.
May your foolish wisdom show us the way of truth and life,
that we may lay aside what we think we know, and find ourselves open to your transformation.
Amen.
For the Narrative Lectionary, if you’re focusing on the lost son story, this song can be a beautiful way to break up the reading, or to respond to it.
Lenten offertory prayer by Joanna Harader
God of the Cross, in losing our lives, we find them in you. In sharing our resources, we enter more fully into your kingdom. May these small sacrifices we have made be multiplied and used for your glory to enact your Good News. Amen.
Benediction by Joanna Harader
RevGalBlogPals encourages you to share our blog posts via email or social media. We do not grant permission to cut-and-paste prayers and articles without a link back to the specific post. For permission to use material in paper publications, please email revgalblogpals at gmail dot com. For Worship Words, you may use or adapt what you find here, but please credit the author in printed orders of service/web publications and in public video descriptions if possible.
If you have written words for worship in this strange new world that you are willing to share, please send us an email: revgalblogpals at gmail dot com.
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