13th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 8 - B

Texts: 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27; Psalm 130; 2 Corinthians 8:7-15; Mark 5:21-43

Call to Worship
L: With friends and strangers,
with family and neighbors, we gather:
P: Come among us, Healing God,
with that love which never ends.
L: With faith reaching out to touch,
with hearts straining to trust, we hope:
P: Come among us, Friend of the broken,
with your compassion which makes us whole.
L: With word and wonder,
with silence and song, we wait:
P: Come among us, Dryer of our tears,
to lift us to our feet to follow you.

Prayer of the Day
You watch,
Timeless God:
as we go hurrying and scurrying about,
our worries and fears crowding around us
until we can scarcely take a breath.
You wait,
as we struggle to keep up with you,
constantly distracted by the fears
which drain our faith and hopes.
You hope,
as we go from promise to promise,
leaving each one broken behind us,
the world bankrupting our dreams.
You watch, you wait, you hope,
and hearing the cries from the depths
of our despair and brokenness,
you lift us to our feet,
breathing new life into us.

God in Community, Holy in One,
we offer our hearts to you,
even as we pray as we are taught,
Our Father . . .

Call to Reconciliation
We know the words we have spoken which have
broken a relationship; we know the deeds we have
done which separate us from friends and families.
We know how we have failed to be faithful followers
of Jesus. Let us confess our sins, trusting that God
will touch us with the healing power of grace.

Unison Prayer of Confession
All too often, God of Excellence, it is the hem of
sin we cling to, letting it drag us through the mud of
fear and failures. You offer us that love which will
always be with us, but we find it difficult to share it
with those who need it most. You fill us with an
abundance of gifts, but we think we need them all
for ourselves.
Forgive us, God of Gentle Hope. You do not
keep a list of all that we have done wrong, but erase
our failings and foolishness, writing a new ending for
our lives. You touch us with your grace, you lift us to
our feet, you strengthen us so we may follow our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ, in service to all your children.

Silence is kept

Assurance of Pardon
L: This is the good news, dear friends: God's love
has no ending; God's hope rests upon us each day;
God's forgiveness restores us to new life.
P: Our God listens to us - to our cries, and to our joys;
to our hopes and to our hearts. Thanks be to God,
we are forgiven. Amen.

Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
L: May the God of hope be with you.
P: And also with you.
L: People of God, offer your hearts to God.
P: We open them to the joy God has for us.
L: Children of love, proclaim your love for God.
P: We sing to the One whose steadfast love is forever.

When you could wait no longer, Heart of Joy,
you spoke the Word which silenced chaos,
you sent your Breath racing acoss the waters
stirring them into motion and life.
You clothed the sunset in crimson and gold,
you dusted the mountains with fresh dew each morning.
You offered us all that is true, is beautiful, is good-
but we laughed at you, placing you outside our lives,
as we reached out to touch the hem of sin and death.
Your love for us was wonderfully enduring,
as you sent prophet after prophet
that we might hear your voice calling to us.
You watched, you hoped, and when you
could wait no longer for us,
you sent your Word to answer
our cries from the depths of our brokenness.

So, with all the mighty who have fallen
and all the lowly who have been lifted to their feet,
we join our voices in singing your glory:

P: Holy, holy, holy, God of love and joy.
All creation is filled with songs of laughter and hope.
Hosanna in the highest!

Blessed is the One who comes to heal us.
Hosanna in the highest!

Your glory, Listening Heart, rests upon all creation,
your praises are sung throughout the universe.
Because your love is ever faithful,
because you are generous beyond all measure,
you sent Jesus to finish what you had begun.
Overflowing with the riches of your grace,
he emptied himself so we might be filled;
embracing our constant companion, suffering,
he healed us, so we might know hope;
broken on the cross and laid in the cold grave,
you took him by the hand, saying, 'get up!'
and he paved the path of resurrection
so we could follow him into eternity.

As we remember his poverty which made us rich,
as we watch and wait for his return,
we would tell others of that mystery we call faith:

P: In remembering his death, we weep;
in claiming his resurrection, we wait;
in awaiting his return, we watch.

Here at this Table prepared for us,
where we watch and wait for peace and hope,
pour out your Source of healing on your children,
and on these gifts of life and joy.
As our hearts are made whole
by the breaking of the bread,
send us to the broken of the world
that we might bind up their wounds.
As our hollow souls are filled
with the tender taste from the cup of life,
may we empty ourselves
so we might embrace those cast off by the world.

And when we wait and watch no longer,
but are gathered together around the Feast in heaven,
as we join our hands, our hearts, our voices
with our sisters and brothers from every time and place,
we will fill your heart with songs of thanksgiving,
God in Community, Holy in One. Amen.

© Thom M. Shuman