Liturgy for Narrative Lectionary Ruth series

July 22 (Ruth 1)

Who will be your people?

God’s people will be my people

Where will you go?

Wherever God leads

What are you willing to leave behind?

Everything

May our worship today lead us to a place where all of this may be so

Let us worship God

Prayer of Confession

Forgive us when we walk away from you and then wonder where you are.

Forgive us when we fail to see the signs you place along our path.

Forgive us when we are too distracted to revel in the wonder of creation.

Forgive us when we forget who we are and whose we are.

Remind us that we are not a lost, but a found people

And that there is no place we can go where you are not.

Amen

Assurance

Friends, hear the Good News. Wherever we are, there God is. We are never alone, and we are never left to our own devices. In the name of Jesus Christ, know that you are forgiven!

Thanks be to God!

 

July 29 (Ruth 2)

Call to Worship

Today we come to worship

And recall the story of Ruth

The stranger in a strange land

Who was welcomed

A woman with no resources

Who was provided for by the community

We celebrate Ruth

And pray that we will find welcome when we need it and extend it to others in need. Amen.

Prayer of Confession

Forgive us God, when we so easily take from you but are not nearly as eager to share with others.  Have mercy on us when you come to us in the form of people who are in trouble, and we turn away because they are in the way and inconvenient, and we really just don’t have the time. Forgive us when we forget that every stranger we meet is a beloved child of God.  Help us to embrace and include others as you have embraced and included us.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Assurance

Friends, hear the Good News. When we stumble and fall, we are always given a chance to get up, dust ourselves off and try again.  In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!

Amen

 

August 5 (Ruth 3)

Call to Worship

There is no place we can go

Where the love of God is not

There is no place we can flee

To escape God’s care and concern

There is nothing we can do

To separate us from the love of God

Let’s worship

Prayer of Confession

Forgive us, O God, when we would rather insult each other on social media than sit down to break bread and listen to one another; when our anger over another’s hatefulness causes us to become hateful, too; when it becomes easier to slam the door than to serve one another. Guide us back to you, O God. Let our love and hospitality not be dependent on the actions of others, but fueled by our reaction to your glorious grace. Guide us back to You and Your way when we are drawn in to the drama that unfolds every day before us. Amen.

August 12 (Ruth 4)

Call to Worship

Welcome to the family

There’s room for all who enter

Welcome to the feast

There’s a place for everyone at the table

Scarcity has no home here

For this is a place of God’s great abundance

Let us worship God

Prayer of Confession

Forgive us, O God, when something we have done or left undone or said or left unsaid causes harm or hurt to another. Forgive our carelessness with our words and our inattention to our actions.  Have mercy on us when we blame others instead of taking responsibility for our own actions. Give us your grace when we do not stand up and speak out for those who have no voice. Help us to become thoughtful, loving people, intent on living the way you have called us to live and serving the way you have called us to serve. Amen.

Assurance

Good news, everybody! In the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven!

Thanks be to God!