22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 17 - A

Texts:  Exodus 3:1-15; Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45b; Romans 12:9-21; Matthew
16:21-28

Call to Worship
L:    Gathered as God's people,
        we come to worship together:
P:    singing praises to the One who loves us,
        opening our hearts to the One who calls us.
L:    Called to be God's people,
        we come to share our lives together:
P:    to celebrate the joys of our hearts,
        to mingle our tears with God's.
L:    Challenged to follow Jesus to the end,
        we come to learn how to be disciples:
P:    offering our food to our enemies,
        giving a drink of water to those
        who have drained our souls.

Prayer of the Day
When we would rush
to get all our to-dos done,
you call to us to turn
and notice your compassion
burning (but not reduced to ashes)
for those living in misery.
When we hesitate,
you ask us to remove
all we think protects us from
the fire of your justice
so we can draw closer
to your heart's warmth.
YOU ARE the One we search for,
God of all held in bondage.

When we become
stumbling blocks to you,
you polish our stony resistance
so we can become smooth pebbles
on the path to your kingdom.
When we would tell you
how we think you should
bring about your hopes and dreams,
you show us your heart,
broken for the lost and the last,
so we will look to their needs
rather than thinking about our own.
YOU ARE the One
who leads us to freedom,
Servant of the poor.

When we believe we cannot speak
about your peace and hopes,
you give us words
which spill out of our hearts.
When we put our palms
over our eyes, afraid to look
at the suffering around us,
you fill our hands with grace,
sending us to serve your children.
YOU ARE the One who
teaches us new ways,
Impassioned Spirit.

God in Community, Holy in One,
YOU ARE WHO YOU ARE,
and we lift our prayer to you, saying,
Our Father . . .

Call to Reconciliation
In stories and in stores, in sandy deserts and
in rocky roads, at school events and Sunday
worship, we encounter God.  We meet the One
who fills every moment with the sacred.  We
confess our sins, in trust that we can turn
aside and notice God welcoming us with
forgiveness and hope.

Unison Prayer of Confession
God of Moses and Mary,
we could live at peace with others,
   but we choose to do wrong to them;
we could welcome those we do not know,
    but choose to close our hearts;
we could make outsiders our best friends,
    but choose the safety of our cliques.

Forgive us, Genuine Love, for our foolish choices.
Hold on to our shaky lives,
    until we learn to clasp your goodness to our hearts,
    so we can give it away to those around us.
Whisper your grace and hopes to us,
    until we can stop cursing our enemies,
    and bless them as our friends.
Smooth the rough edges of our arrogance,
    until we become polished enough
    to win the gold in being honorable.
Then, we would put aside our stumbling blocks
to discipleship, so we can follow Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Savior, as he leads us to your way
of denial and life.

Silence is kept

Assurance of Pardon
L:    In our love for others, we discover God's
        love for us.  In our forgiving of others,
        we learn once more how deeply God
        has forgiven us.  Friends, this is the
        good news offered to us!
P:    We are God's children, called to be different,
        called to act different, called to live as new
        people.  Thanks be to God.  We are forgiven.
        Amen.

Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
L:  May the God of burning bushes be with you!
P:  And also with you!
L:  People of God, offer your hearts to God,
       who calls to you from the mystery of grace.
P:  We turn aside from our worries to open ourselves
        to the One who calls us to new life.
L:  Children of God, remember all the joy and wonder
        which has been done for you.
P:  We will lift our voices in praise to the One who is
         beyond all imagining.

In a moment, creation began,
and from that time on,
God of Freedom,
you began to pour out
your goodness and genuine love.
Earth laughed with flowers
and rejoiced with sunrises.
You shaped us in your image
and began to show us all
you wanted to give us.
But chasing after the temptations
and seductions of the world,
we tripped over the stumbling blocks
of sin and death, falling flat
on our fears and doubts.
Observing our misery in such living,
you sent the prophets
to call us back to you,
but we did not hear their cries.
Knowing we would continue
to suffer and lose our way,
you sent Jesus to come
and deliver us from our slavery.

Joining our voices with those
who have faithfully followed,
and with those who stumbled along the way,
we call on your name, singing praises to you:

P:    Holy, holy, holy are you, God of Wonder.
        Watching our struggles,
            your heart breaks;
        hearing our cries,
            you whisper our name;
        knowing our loneliness,
            you came to deliver us.

       Blessed is Jesus Christ, who comes in your name!
       Hosanna in the highest!

Holy are you, Listener of cries in the night,
and blessed is Jesus Christ, your Child.
Hearing the pain of your heart,
    he came to speak of your hopes;
seeing the brokenness of our relationships,
    he came to make us whole;
knowing our fear of death,
    he came to defeat its power,
aware of what it would cost him,
    he journeyed to Jerusalem
    to embrace suffering and heartache;
hating evil so much
    he was willing to let it believe
    it had won the battle,
until he burst from the grave
bringing life for all
even as you raised him from the dead.

Remembering his wonderful works,
recalling his miracles, his words, his life,
we speak of that mystery we know as faith:

 P:    Christ rejoices with us,
        Christ weeps with us,
        Christ died for us,
        Christ was raised for us.

As we prepare to gather around
your Table, God of Love,
pour out your Spirit upon us,
and on the gifts of the bread and cup.
Feed us on the rich food
of your forgiveness and grace,
so we might go forth
to feed all those we only know
by the name 'enemy.'
Quench our thirst for power
with the sweet wine of your servanthood,
so we might choose
    honor over fame,
    humility over pride,
    forgiveness over vengeance,
and in so doing,
lose ourselves in your life
of denial and service,
giving ourselves to others,
thus returning your love for us.

And when all moments come to an end,
and the time has come to gather around
that great feast in heaven,
there will be no enemy, no them, no us -
just sisters and brothers joining
hearts and voices in singing your praise,
God in Community, Holy in One.  Amen.

(c) Thom M. Shuman