GATHERING
PRELUDE/ENTRANCE/LIFE OF THE CHURCH
*OPENING SONG
"Lift High the Cross" UMH 159
*CALL TO WORSHIP
Liturgist: Sometimes God calls us through burning bushes, telling us to go free a whole people despite our insecurities and fears. People: God, help us accept your call on our lives.
Liturgist: Sometimes God calls us, and we don’t understand the full meaning of the call, the ways our families, friends, and communities may resist the good news and us as messengers of it. People: God, help us accept your call on our lives.
Liturgist: Sometimes God calls us to a path that is harder than we think we can handle, asking us to trust that God will provide what we need. People: God, help us accept your call on our lives.
Liturgist: Beloved, God’s call takes many forms. Sometimes it feels as natural as breathing, and sometimes we want to run as far as we can. But take assurance in this: You are not alone. God is with us, and God’s call can be trusted, because no matter where it leads, God is there. ALL: God, help us accept your call on our lives and to trust that what you equip us to do is what you call us to do as members of the Body of Christ. Thanks be to God! Amen.
Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, May 2026.
Opening Prayer
Pour your Light, Holy Spirit of God, into our hearts and minds. Help us to know more clearly and grasp more fully the Good News of Jesus. And help us then to know how to share it. We ask this through Jesus Christ, who with you and the Father, are One God. Amen.
From the Diocese of Zululand, South Africa. Found in Prayer Encircling the World: An International Anthology (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998), 105.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
WORDS OF ASSURANCE
SHARING GOD’S PEACE
GOD SIGHTINGS AND INTERCESSIONS
THE LORD’S PRAYER
PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
A TIME FOR CHILDREN
SPECIAL MUSIC
*FIRST LESSON Romans 12:9-21
*GOSPEL LESSON Matthew 16:21-28
MESSAGE
RESPONSE TO THE WORD
SONG OF RESPONSE
“I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" TFWS 2129
*OFFERING OF OURSELVES
THE APOSTLES’ CREED UMH 881
*DOXOLOGY UMH 95
*PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
SENDING FORTH
*SONG OF DISMISSAL
“Let There Be Peace on Earth” UMH 431
*BENEDICTION
*PEACE
“God Be with You till We Meet Again “ UMH 672
Verse 1