*Greeting
Sometimes in the darkest hour we find
we have been wrestling with angels.
Sometimes when we meet the Holy
we walk away with a limp.
Sometimes when we ask for a blessing
we get a new identity.
Come to worship
so we may be changed.

Unison Prayer of Confession
O Wrestling God, we are sometimes afraid to confront you. We think we cannot ask you for what we want, we are afraid you will be offended if we grab onto you and don’t let go. We are afraid of what you will do, and what you will not do. Forgive us for our reticence, our fears. Give us the courage to seek your face, to hold on, to ask for what we need. Then give us the courage to go on with the blessing we receive, even if it is not what we expected. With thanks for the ways we encounter you we pray, Amen.

Silent Prayer
Words of Assurance
God’s love is steadfast. God will not let us go. Find peace in this persistence. Amen.

by Rev. Michelle M. Hargrave, 7.08

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Prayer of Confession
Jesus, every week we read stories and sing songs about how you have gone before us, conquering death, claiming life, showing us a way to live. Yet we believe we can make our own choices, in our own freedom, to have the life we want. And so we choose, and choose, and choose, and discover our freedom has been constrained by a culture that uses our choices to shape us. We discover our lives are not quite what we hoped for. We discover death still frightens us. So we come to you, to ask for another chance to try to follow you into the path of life and peace and hope. Give us a taste of what freedom really means, so we may truly live as God created us to live.

Silent Prayer

Words of Assurance
Every breath may be a turning to God, to God’s path, to the way Jesus lays before us. Begin anew, and be made whole. Amen.

Continue reading "Prayer of Confession and Words of Assurance | Christ the King" »

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[to be prayed with My Country ‘Tis of Thee verses interspersed]

Sing Verse 1

God of Freedom, forgive us when, in this land of freedom, we have enslaved and oppressed people with chains of iron, chains of debt, or chains of race.
We pray that those who have sacrificed for freedom would not have given in vain and that all who live in this land might be truly free.

Continue reading "Prayer of Confession | Independence Day" »

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