For this week's lectionary texts and reflection, scroll down to previous post.

Some resources to use in worship based on this week's texts:



Call to Worship
One:     We are all part of God's story.
Many:  A story that includes the good, the bad, and the ugly.
One:    We are all part of God's story. 
Many:  A story full of love and grace.
One:    We are part of a story, 
Many:  a story that tells of our relationship with God,
One:     a story in which God forgives us again and again. 
All:      We are part of a story in which we press on toward the goal alongside Jesus and we have come to worship God.

Call to Confession
God gifted us with the law found in the 10 commandments to help us live our best lives. God also gifted us with the grace found in Jesus Christ and promises to forgive us when we repent of our sins. So, now, before God and one another, we confess our sins.

Prayer of Confession
We too often think of you, God, as waiting for us to mess up so that you can reign down your judgement on us. Like a vineyard owner, you expect good things from us and we often let you down as if we are rotten grapes. We envy others. We lie. We steal. We are full of love for self and turn our backs on our neighbors. O God, please forgive us. Make us into the children you created us to be. Make us better. Yes, God, forgive us. Amen.

Assurance of Forgiveness
There is not much in this world that is certain, but we can be certain of this: even while we continue to sin, God forgives us over and over and over again. Never question this fact. Through Jesus Christ, we are forgiven!

Here's a thought:
What if we invited our congregations to share parts of their own stories with God? What if there was a moment around the offering where people had the opportunity to vocalize their role in the story of God with God's people? If you have a large congregation, you could invite two or three people ahead of time to be prepared to do this. A smaller congregation could have "leading questions" listed in the bulletin to help focus the sharing. Those questions could be something like, "In what ways have you seen the grace of God extended to you over and over again?" or "What does it mean to you to press on toward the goal?" If your congregation is one that uses live Twitter feed, these questions could be answered on that feed during worship. In what other ways could we be creative in worship?