Call to Worship, Prayer: January 29, 2012

Here’s a call to worship and opening prayer based on the scripture readings for Epiphany 4B (January 29, 2012).  They were written by Thom Shuman, and posted on his Lectionary Liturgies blog.

Call to Worship

Thinking we know all the answers,
yet wondering if we haven't missed something:
we enter this sanctuary of Truth.
In the company of sinners,
in cahoots with saints:
we gather as God's people.
Standing by folks of deep, abiding faith;
seated with those who stumble through the Kingdom:
we lift our praise to God.


Prayer of the Day

We hunger for power,
and you feed us
the bread of humility;
we long for freedom,
and you invite us to drink
the cup of self-denial.
Faithful and Just God:
our songs of gratitude
will echo down
the hallways of creation.

You speak
and all our props
are knocked out
from under our pride.
Then, you astound us
by reaching out your hand
to lift us to our feet
so we may follow you.
Holy Gift of God:
our songs of praise
will echo down
the hallway of our hearts.

Without your wisdom,
we would be speechless;
without your peace,
we would be heartless;
without your presence,
we would be graceless.
Bearer of Truth:
our songs of joy
will echo down
the hallways of eternity.

God in Community, Holy in One,
may our songs echo in your heart
as we pray as Jesus has taught us, saying,
Our Father . . .

— written by Thom Shuman, and posted on his Lectionary Liturgies blog.  Visit there for many other excellent lectionary-based worship resources. 

For more worship resources for January 29, 2012 (the fourth Sunday after Epiphany), click on Epiphany 4B in the list of “Labels” at the lower right side of the page.

For more calls to worship on this blog, click on Calls to worship in the list of “Labels” at the lower right, or see the Call to Worship Index at the upper right. For more prayer resources on this blog, see the Scriptural Index of Prayers at the upper right side of the page.