Gathering Song:
“Uyai Mose/Come, All You People” LUYH 496, SNC 4, SWM 4
Welcome and Call to Worship
Leader: Let us rise to hear God’s call to worship.
The eternal Father, who loved us and set us free from our sins, who loves us still with a love that will not let us go, and who will love us forever, calls us to worship him today as the only true lover of our souls. The Lord stoops to receive the love of our poor hearts. He calls us to remember the depth of his love for us in Christ. God seeks our love!
Opening Songs
“Beautiful Savior” LUYH 17, PsH 461, WR 105
“Beautiful One” LUYH 607
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us come before God in a time of sincere confession together, using the words of the Lord’s Prayer to guide us. Let us pray.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
People: Forgive us, Father, for the times that we forget who you are—our loving Father, our great Redeemer, and our ever-present help in times of trouble, whose Spirit is forever with us.
Leader: Forgive us when we act in ways that shame your name; help us to honor and praise your name by all we think, say, and do.
Chorus: “Lord, Have Mercy” LUYH 639
Leader: Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
People: Forgive us when we selfishly focus on our own lives and churches and fail to bring your love and grace to the world around us.
Leader: Forgive us for when we wish to remain safe, when we wish to remain sheltered, for when we don’t have time to open our eyes to the hurting people around us—in our neighborhoods, congregations, cities, our country, and our world. Help us be bearers of your kingdom and willingly and faithfully do your work as your angels in heaven do.
Chorus: “Lord, Have Mercy”
Leader: Give us today our daily bread.
People: Faithful Father, forgive us when we fail to trust you with our daily needs, when we rely too much on ourselves, and when we forget where every good and perfect gift comes from.
Leader: Forgive us when we trust in creatures and material things. Teach us to put trust in you alone, and, in so doing, willingly give of ourselves to help share the blessings we have so graciously received from you.
Song: “Pérdon, Señor/Forgive Us, Lord” (st. 1, 3) LUYH 642, SNC 59, SWM 154
Leader: Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
People: Merciful God, forgive us for those times when we harden our hearts toward those who have hurt us, forgetting that, time and again, you forgive us when we have hurt you.
Leader: Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.
People: We confess those times when we fall into temptation, despite your Holy Spirit calling us to obedience.
Leader: Forgive us for those times when we don’t even realize that we are hurting others or that we are hurting you and your kingdom work. Give us the strength of your Spirit to stand firm against temptation and sin.
Song: “Pérdon, Señor” (st. 2, 4)
Leader: For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
People: Holy God, forgive us for when we take glory and power away from you; we confess we so often think the kingdom is about us.
Leader: May our lives point to you, not to ourselves, because it is only in the power and glory of Jesus Christ that we receive life. And it is in his precious name that we pray,
People: Amen.
Words of Assurance
Leader: Hear these words of assurance from Acts 13 and Ephesians 1:
Through Jesus Christ, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.
—from Acts 13:38; Ephesians 1:7 (NRSV)
Song of Assurance:
“Before the Throne of God Above” (st. 1, 3) CSW 28, LUYH 682
We Offer Our Lives in Thankfulness
Leader: People of God, as we dedicate our lives to grateful living, let us use the words of answer 86 of the Heidelberg Catechism.
People: Christ has redeemed us by his blood. But we do good because Christ by his Spirit is also renewing us to be like himself, so that in all our living we may show that we are thankful to God for all he has done for us, and so that he may be praised through us. And we do good so that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits, and so that by our godly living our neighbors may be won over to Christ.
Hymns of Dedication
“I Surrender All” (st. 1, 3) LUYH 739
“I Need Thee Every Hour” (p. 46) CH 638, LUYH 322, TH 674, WR 476
Closing Words
Leader: May the grace of Christ, which daily renews us, and the love of God, which enables us to love all, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, which unites us in one body, make us eager to obey the will of God each and every day, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
People: Amen.
Closing Songs
“This Little Light of Mine” LUYH 930, SWM 245
“I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me” LUYH 854, PH 369, SWM 238, WR 574