Gathering

Jesus calls us to praise and prayer, to song and silence;

Jesus calls us to hearing and healing, to service and solidarity;

Jesus calls us to advocacy and action, to protest and provision; Jesus calls us to justice.

Let us heed the call of Christ.
Let us worship together with joy.

Hymn

Confession & Words of Assurance

God…You call us…and sometimes…we duck under the table…
hoping You didn’t notice us when You walked into the room.
You call us…and sometimes…we grab a stapler and a stack of papers…
trying to look too busy to be bothered at the moment.
You call us…and sometimes we just say, “No!”
We know that we aren’t expected to do everything…
but we often forget that You call us to be ourselves
in the places where our very self is what is most needed.
So give us the grace to say “Yes” to Your call…
even now…

The great news is we don’t have to change ourselves on our own, we have the gift of God’s grace. All we need to do is ask and it is already given. Amen

Story Time

Scripture

Jesus’ Message

Mark 1¹⁴ After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, ¹⁵ saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!”

Jesus calls disciples

¹⁶ As Jesus passed alongside the Galilee Sea, he saw two brothers, Simon and Andrew, throwing fishing nets into the sea, for they were fishermen.¹⁷ “Come, follow me,” he said, “and I’ll show you how to fish for people.”¹⁸ Right away, they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹ After going a little farther, he saw James and John, Zebedee’s sons, in their boat repairing the fishing nets. ²⁰ At that very moment he called them. They followed him, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired workers.

Sermon

 Prayers

Reconciling God,
We pray for Your World. May all that is divided by doctrine or politics, class or nationality,
be united in Your praise.

We pray for a peaceful world,
where children grow up without fear,
where security rests on trust rather than threats, and where nations fight against poverty
rather than against each other.

We pray for all in authority,
that those who lead us,
may establish right priorities,
and that by Your wisdom and their vision the world may reflect Your kingdom.

Healing God,
We pray for those who are ill and suffering,
for all who are worried
for those who are grieving
or experiencing trauma
and for a world gripped by the repercussions of pandemic.

May we all know
the power of Christ to sustain us
and the love of friends near and distanced to support us. You know our greatest fears, our longings and our hopes, sometimes these are expressed in so many different ways, so Lord, in Your mercy, hear those prayers.

All of these prayers and so may more we pull together and pray the prayer tradition has taught us…

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.