Prayers 2 7 99
Call to Worship
We delight to draw near to you, gracious God.
We rejoice in the many gifts you have given us.
We lift up our hearts and voices in praise.
We humble ourselves before the God of all worlds.
Invocation
May our voices rise like trumpets to greet you, holy God. May our ears be attuned to know your ways. May our hearts be steady, focused on you. Praise be to you, O God, whom we worship with awe and delight. Guide us, we pray, in this time of worship. Touch us at the points of our deepest need. Make us strong to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the things of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free. Amen.
Prayer of God’s People
Dear heavenly Father God, we come giving praise and honor in your name. We have come together, not to be confirmed in our prejudices, but to be changed, not to be affirmed for our righteousness, but to uncover the immaturity of our faith that we might grow. Thus, we confess to you, O God, our failure to live by the best we know, and our limited response to the vision you set before us.
Bless our church today by granting it the courage to affirm the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives. Draw us together as a loving and supportive community that can only come from Christ who has made us brothers and sisters. In our pursuit for community, let us also respect and celebrate the richness of diversity that we have at First Chinese Baptist. Surely, the synergy of the Body of Christ with many parts enables us to be more effective in ministry and missions that we would be unable to do alone.
As a people of faith who believe in the power and majesty of your healing and nurturing hand, work in the lives of our family and friends who need your comfort today. Continue to be with…
Be with us as a total church family today at the church annual meeting as we remember the many wonderful programs and ministries that have been made possible through our church. We give thanksgiving to you, O God for your constant love and actions in the world. Challenge us not to become complacent to the human misery and suffering all around the world. Make what appears to be far, far away become our next door neighbors. Continue to sustain all of our church leaders to remain focused and energetic to the plans for our ministries.
Thank you for renewing the best you have placed within us. Steady our hearts that we will not be afraid to demonstrate your love for all people. Equip us to be salt and light. Shine through us that your love may prevail in and through our church and wherever we are scattered to serve. May all we do honor Christ and give you glory. In the name Jesus Christ that we pray, who taught us to pray together….Our Father….
Offertory
How generous are the gifts of God, poured out on us so that we may know the joy of giving! The psalmist reminds us that it is well with those who deal generously and lend, who conduct their affairs with justice and give to the poor. Let us proclaim God’s message by the offerings that we bring.
Offertory Prayer
Help us, O God, to hear Christ calling to us through voices of the oppressed, the sick, the imprisoned, those discriminated against because of race, gender, age, or nationality and those who are entangled in poverty. May we having heard the call, answer, Send us. Amen.
Communion
Come to this table, not because you must but because you may;
come to testify not that you are righteous but that you sincerely love our Lord Jesus Christ and desire to be his true disciples.
Come, not because you are strong, but because you are weak;
not because you have any claim on heaven’s rewards, but because in your frailty and sin you stand in constant need of heaven’s mercy and help;
come, not to express an opinion, but to seek a Presence and to pray for the Holy Spirit.
And now that the Lord’s Supper is spread before you, lift up your minds and hearts above all selfish fears and cares.
This bread symbolizes the hundreds of separate grains like our lives were once separated are now joined together in Christian community. This bread represents the body of Christ our Lord who died for our sins and rose again to reveal to us the promise of eternal life is for us to receive.
On the night that he was betrayed by one of his own disciples, Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it for them to eat. He said, “This bread is my body broken for you.”
Prayer
He gave it to his disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is my body broken for you.”
Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “This cup is the blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Prayer
Jesus said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Benediction
God will guide us continually.
God will satisfy our thirst with living water.
We cannot hold back our shouts of joy!
We have received the Spirit that is from God. Amen.