Call to Worship: God of Genius (Proverbs 25:2)

Call To Worship: God of Genius (Prov. 25:2)

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings. - Proverbs 25:2

Our God, you are the genius in the room. You did not wake up this morning, surprised, and say, "I wish I'd thought of that." You are not stumped. You, whose words sparked the galaxies, orbited electrons around a nucleus, bloomed fields of flowers and animated every human heart, are full of ideas.

Our God, you lead us in a life of discovery as you beckon us from the other side of today, saying, "Come and see! Come and see! Isn't this amazing?" You know the end from the beginning, you know the answer before the question, you know the solution before the problem, you know the house before the plans or foundation, you know the feast before the grape is planted and the grain is sown and you know us.

Our God, yes, you know us. Fragile as we are, we cannot know it all, yet you grant us the portion that we need at the right time-for hope and not despair. We search you out and we find that you are good, and you are strong, and you care.

Amen.

Alternate ending:

Lord forgive us when we get consumed by the things of this world that fight for our love and our passion. As our eyes are open wide and on you, grant us the privilege of your world view, and may your kingdom be what wakes us up and lays us down.[1]


[1] Lose My Soul, tobyMac (Portable Sounds, 2007), Toby McKeehan, Christopher Stevens, Michael Ripoll

Call to Worship: Purpose (Jeremiah 29:4,7,11-14a)

L: This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

C: Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.

L: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

C: Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

A:  I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity

Call To Worship: The Potter and The Clay (Isaiah 29)

The Potter and the Clay

L: Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. (Isaiah 43:6-7)

C: We turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”? Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing” (Isaiah 29:16)

L: It is the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person (Zechariah 12:1b)

C: We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)

A: Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.  Amen. (Isaiah 64:8)

Call to Worship: The Mind of the Lord (Romans 11:33-36)

The Mind of the Lord (Romans 11:33-36)

L: Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

C: How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

L: “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”

C: “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?”

L: For from him and through him and for him are all things. 

A: To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Call to Worship: Humility (Philippians 2)

Humility (Philippians 2)

L1: In your relationships
L2: In my relationships
C: In our relationships, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

L1: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

L2: Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

C: And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross!

L1: Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place, and gave him the name that is above every
name,

L2: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

C: And every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

ALL: To the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Call to Worship: Psalm 86:8-13

Psalm 86:8-13 (NIV)

L: Among the gods there is none like you, Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name.

C: For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.

L: Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

C: I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.

A: For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead.

Call To Worship: We Are Listening (Eph. 1:18-19b, Col. 3:1-3)

We Are Listening – Ephesians 1:18-19b, Colossians 3:1-3

L: Lord, you are not silent.

C: Lord, we are listening.

L: Lord, we confess. We do not always hear. We do not always see. Worse, we do not always want to. We are disappointingly content with a heaven-less kingdom.

C: Open the eyes of our hearts, Lord, that we may know and want to know the hope to which you have called us-the glorious inheritance of your holy people and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

L: He raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.

C: We have been raised with Christ, set our hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

L: God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way

C: Set our minds on things above, not on earthly things. For we died, and our life is now hidden with Christ in God.

L: Lord, you are not silent.

A: Lord, we are listening. Amen.