Call to Worship & Prayer: Awesome and Majestic God

Here’s a call to worship and opening prayer based on the lectionary texts for October 16, 2011 (Proper 24A, Ordinary 29A).  They were written by Moira Laidlaw.

Call to Worship

(based on Psalm 99)

People tremble and a tremor runs through the whole earth

when confronted with the great and majestic power of God.
We praise God’s great and holy name.
God’s love for the world is revealed in acts of justice and righteousness.
We bow down before God’s holy presence.
God heard and answered the cries of Moses and Aaron and Samuel,
who experienced God’s righteousness as both judgment and grace.
God’s word of judgment and grace comes to us still,

not in a pillar of cloud, but through the person of Jesus Christ.
We praise God for the Word made flesh present among us,

full of grace and truth.

Prayer of Praise and Adoration

(based on Psalm 99, Exodus 14:19-31, 33:12-23)

Awesome and majestic God,

your creative power, your glory and holiness
were experienced by your people of old

as clouds and fire guiding them to freedom.

They believed that no one could see your face and live.

How blessed therefore are we,

for you have revealed your face to us in Jesus—
the human face of your love.

You also equip us for our journey through life and beyond,

by breathing new and everlasting life into our very beings,
through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

These people of old believed that it was your presence with them

which made them a chosen and special people.

We praise and adore you, O God, for making our lives so special,
by choosing to share your life with us in and through Jesus. 

May this time of worship and the service of our lives

reveal our thanksgiving and our wonder that you should so care for us.

This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

— written by Moira Laidlaw, and posted on her Liturgies Online website. Visit her site for many other lectionary-based resources for worship.