Worship and Bow Down

Opening Prayer

O God, Creator and Ruler of the World: Receive our worship and offering of ourselves, not on the ground of any desert of our own, but out of the bounty of your goodness which refreshes us with the water of life; Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God in glory everlasting. Amen

Pastoral Prayer

Almighty God, your greatness is above all powers in heaven or on earth. So we your people bow before you in worship, and we seek to worship you in spirit and in truth. You have made us the sheep of your pasture and revealed yourself to be our shepherd; we sing our praises to your holy Name.

We know that your ways are for our good. Still, we try to tell you how to care for us, and we grumble when you choose not to do it in our way or on our timetable. You offer us the means to experience new life every day, but still we try to make you prove your love and your power. O God of mercy, who sees into our most hidden secret places, have mercy upon us and cleanse us from our sin.

By your Holy Spirit strengthen our hope that we will share your glory. As your love has been poured into our hearts, aid us to claim our justification by faith in Christ Jesus. Help us to renew our commitment to do you will by spreading your word so others might believe.

Touch those, who this day, are suffering and in distress; bless those who are caring for them. Consecrate all suffering to your glory that in these things we may increase our endurance and be transformed into people of hope. Espeically, we pray for...

Fill us with that promised spring of water which flows from your abundant fountain of life and which puts an end to all our need. Grant what we ask, for we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught us to pray by saying...

Scripture Reading

Psalm 95 NRSV

O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice! Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your ancestors tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they do not regard my ways.” Therefore in my anger I swore, “They shall not enter my rest.”

Introduction