Call to Worship & Prayer: Proper 17 B

Here’s a call to worship and opening prayer based on the suggested scripture readings for Proper 17 B (Ordinary 22 B), the fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost.  They come from The Abingdon Worship Annual 2009.

Call to Worship
(inspired by Song of Solomon 2: 8-13, Psalm 45)

Look to the mountains; look to the hills!
Love comes to us with joy!
The world is filled with beauty.
Flowers appear on the earth,
birdsong brightens the day.
Crops yield their produce in abundance,
the air is filled with sweetness.
The summer of God’s love is with us.
Let the oil of gladness anoint your souls.
Arise and sing for joy!

Opening Prayer

Creating God,
you are the source of summer’s splendor—
the beauty and fragrance of delicate flowers,
and sweet sound of birdsong.
We come to you this morning
with delight and gladness,
grateful for all of your wonders.
As the fields produce their harvest,
may your love grow within us,
that we too may produce a harvest
of love, hope, and joy. Amen.

~ Adapted from The Abingdon Worship Annual 2009, © 2008 Abingdon Press.  Posted on the Ministry Matters website.  http://www.ministrymatters.com/