Worship Resources for
the Center for Faith and Giving
Epiphany +3
Isaiah 9:1-4
Psalm 27:1, 4-9
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Matthew 4:12-23
Call to Worship (inspired by Psalm 27)
One: Come! Let’s praise the Lord, who is our light and our salvation!
Many: Who is it we should fear when we know
the Lord is “the stronghold of our lives”?
One: We’re gathered to sing and make melody to the Lord.
Many: We lift up our heads and offer our gifts with shouts of joy!
One: We know our best hope is to seek God all the days of our lives.
Many: So we come together to praise the One who is gracious to us all.
Opening Prayer
Holy God, we do trust you to guard and guide us from day to day.
Thank you for this hour of worship when we can tune our hearts to sing your praise.
Open our ears and our eyes to your presence among us.
Be gracious to us as we seek your face in scripture and sermon and song. AMEN
Moment for Stewardship
What an abundance of gifts we have to offer:
musical talent, the melody of laughter,
the use of our minds in solving problems,
curiosity, compassion, patience, urgency,
spiritual reservoirs and financial resources.
All these gifts and others that bear our personal marks
are symbolized in our offering.
As we give, and as we worship God with this offering,
let us commit ourselves to give as forgiven and reconciled people.
(Adapted from an invitation in Chalice Worship, Chalice Press, 1997, p. 391)
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Thank you, Creator, for the abundance with which we are blessed, and for the capacity to share our resources. Help us utilize these gifts to their full potential, seeking to spread Good News through support of this congregation and the ministries to which we are committed. Renew in us a yearning to be disciples of Jesus, who shared his life with all he encountered. AMEN
Invitation to Communion (in response to Matthew 4:18-22)
Jesus must have mastered the art of invitation. Matthew 4 tells in a few simple sentences how Jesus invited Simon and Andrew to put down their fishing nets and follow him. In the same text, Jesus then invites two other brothers, James and John, who were mending their fishing nets, to join with Simon and Andrew.
We follow in that model to invite each one here to put aside what has captured you most fully in order to meet Jesus at this table.
Turn off your phone.
Set down your “to do” list.
Stop listing who is present and who is absent from worship this morning.
Let your eyes focus on this bread and cup,
and fully immerse yourself in remembering.
Here, now, you can commit your life once more to discipleship.
As you eat this bread and drink this cup, set your life on the road with Jesus.