Self-awareness as sin-awareness
Worship
LECTIONARY WORSHIP AIDS
Series II
First Sunday in Lent
First Lesson: Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17, 25-3:7
Theme:
Self-awareness as sin-awareness
Exegetical note: These excerpts from the Jahwist's version of creation and account of humanity's so-called "fall" should be read in light of recent revisionist interpretation, which treats the story, not as a literal-historical or Pauline-Augustinian account of the cause of sinfulness, which ruined a primodial state of human perfection, but as a mythical representation of the process by which every human comes to self-awareness of alienation from God.
Call to Worship
(based on Psalm 130)
Leader:
Out of our depths we lift our voices to God!
People:
MAY GOD HEAR AND LISTEN!
Leader:
If God should number our inequities, who could bear it?
People:
BUT GOD IS FORGIVING, AND HEEDS OUR CRIES FOR MERCY!
Collect
Great Creator God, you made us in your image and after your likeness to grow in godliness. Give us the strength of your Spirit: that, thus empowered, we may regain the innocence and righteousness that all of us have lost in our fall from grace and into sin. In the restorative name of Jesus we pray. Amen
Prayer of Confession
Most caring and good God, we confess with deep regret that we have fallen into sin and have failed to reflect your divine image as we should. We have experienced our own tempters, lost the innocence of our individual Edens, and lived lives of misery and malice as a result. Forgive us, we pray, and grant us the grace and renewed humanity offered us in the Christ, the second Adam, in whom alone we can become new creations of goodness and truth, justice and love. In his holy name we pray. Amen
First Sunday in Lent
Second Lesson: Romans 5:12-19
Theme:
The "excessiveness" of God's grace
Exegetical note: This linguistically difficult passage has been interpreted through the eyes of Augustine so long that it is hard to extricate its original meaning from the layers of "Original Sin" theory that enshroud it. Taken on its own merits, however, Paul's statement seems to be affirming both the universality of sin and everyone's active participation in it and (therefore) responsibility for it. Likewise, as vv. 15-17 show, Paul's Adam-Christ parallel is unbalanced:
the grace of God in Jesus is "excessive," for it does more than simply "undo" the curse of sin from Adam.
Call to Worship
(based on Psalm 130)
Leader:
Let us wait upon God!
People:
LET US HOPE IN GOD!
Leader:
With God there is steadfast love!
People:
WITH GOD THERE IS PLENTEOUS REDEMPTION!
Collect
God of exceeding goodness, you have given us in Christ Jesus more than enough grace to overcome the sin that plagues our lives. Assist us now by opening our hearts and minds, our souls and spirits to this precious gift: that, touched by its redemptive power, we may grow into the image of Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen
Prayer of Confession
God of extraordinary grace, we acknowledge with sadness our responsibility for the condition of sin that dominates our lives, as well as for the many acts of sin that it produces; and we admit that, were you merely just and fair, and not gracious and merciful, we should suffer much more than we do as a result. Forgive us, we pray, and grant us from the rich storehouses of your mercy the grace that we need to become faithful and productive children of yours, purveyors of light and life rather than of darkness and death. In the saving name of Jesus we pray. Amen
First Sunday in Lent
Gospel:
Matthew 4:1-11
Theme:
Temptation as self-centered
Exegetical note: Although for Matthew the temptations of Jesus relate particularly to his messianic role, as a reading for the first Sunday in Lent, this passage speaks more clearly to the implications of the generic temptation that confronts every human where it touches us most closely: at the point of self-identity and self-definition.
Call to Worship
Leader:
As a part of the human family, let us worship God!
People:
AS BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF JESUS, LET US LIFT OUR SPIRITS IN PRAYER AND PRAISE!
Leader:
As those who experience temptation, let us present ourselves to the Most High!
People:
AS PEOPLE WHO KNOW THAT EVIL HAS BEEN OVERCOME, LET US APPROACH GOD IN HUMILTY AND GRATITUDE!
Collect
Heavenly God, you have created us above all creatures with a wonderful consciousness of ourselves and a marvelous potential for spirituality. Help us to seek and find our identities in you and your Word: that, properly centered, our lives may become holy, godly, and worthy to bear the name of the Christ, in which we pray. Amen
Prayer of Confession
Holy God, it pains us to confess just what messes our lives are as a result of our self-centeredness, and how futile and frivolous our many efforts at self-definition and self-help really are. We have tried to find ourselves in fads, philosophies, power, possessions, substances, superheroes, experts, and exercises, and still we feel off center, aimless, and worthless. Forgive us, we pray, and help us through your Spirit to get into touch with the image of yourself that you have planted within us, and to remake it with the full humanity of Jesus as our model. In his name we pray. Amen
First Lesson: Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17, 25-3:7
Theme:
Self-awareness as sin-awareness
Exegetical note: These excerpts from the Jahwist's version of creation and account of humanity's so-called "fall" should be read in light of recent revisionist interpretation, which treats the story, not as a literal-historical or Pauline-Augustinian account of the cause of sinfulness, which ruined a primodial state of human perfection, but as a mythical representation of the process by which every human comes to self-awareness of alienation from God.
Call to Worship
(based on Psalm 130)
Leader:
Out of our depths we lift our voices to God!
People:
MAY GOD HEAR AND LISTEN!
Leader:
If God should number our inequities, who could bear it?
People:
BUT GOD IS FORGIVING, AND HEEDS OUR CRIES FOR MERCY!
Collect
Great Creator God, you made us in your image and after your likeness to grow in godliness. Give us the strength of your Spirit: that, thus empowered, we may regain the innocence and righteousness that all of us have lost in our fall from grace and into sin. In the restorative name of Jesus we pray. Amen
Prayer of Confession
Most caring and good God, we confess with deep regret that we have fallen into sin and have failed to reflect your divine image as we should. We have experienced our own tempters, lost the innocence of our individual Edens, and lived lives of misery and malice as a result. Forgive us, we pray, and grant us the grace and renewed humanity offered us in the Christ, the second Adam, in whom alone we can become new creations of goodness and truth, justice and love. In his holy name we pray. Amen
First Sunday in Lent
Second Lesson: Romans 5:12-19
Theme:
The "excessiveness" of God's grace
Exegetical note: This linguistically difficult passage has been interpreted through the eyes of Augustine so long that it is hard to extricate its original meaning from the layers of "Original Sin" theory that enshroud it. Taken on its own merits, however, Paul's statement seems to be affirming both the universality of sin and everyone's active participation in it and (therefore) responsibility for it. Likewise, as vv. 15-17 show, Paul's Adam-Christ parallel is unbalanced:
the grace of God in Jesus is "excessive," for it does more than simply "undo" the curse of sin from Adam.
Call to Worship
(based on Psalm 130)
Leader:
Let us wait upon God!
People:
LET US HOPE IN GOD!
Leader:
With God there is steadfast love!
People:
WITH GOD THERE IS PLENTEOUS REDEMPTION!
Collect
God of exceeding goodness, you have given us in Christ Jesus more than enough grace to overcome the sin that plagues our lives. Assist us now by opening our hearts and minds, our souls and spirits to this precious gift: that, touched by its redemptive power, we may grow into the image of Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen
Prayer of Confession
God of extraordinary grace, we acknowledge with sadness our responsibility for the condition of sin that dominates our lives, as well as for the many acts of sin that it produces; and we admit that, were you merely just and fair, and not gracious and merciful, we should suffer much more than we do as a result. Forgive us, we pray, and grant us from the rich storehouses of your mercy the grace that we need to become faithful and productive children of yours, purveyors of light and life rather than of darkness and death. In the saving name of Jesus we pray. Amen
First Sunday in Lent
Gospel:
Matthew 4:1-11
Theme:
Temptation as self-centered
Exegetical note: Although for Matthew the temptations of Jesus relate particularly to his messianic role, as a reading for the first Sunday in Lent, this passage speaks more clearly to the implications of the generic temptation that confronts every human where it touches us most closely: at the point of self-identity and self-definition.
Call to Worship
Leader:
As a part of the human family, let us worship God!
People:
AS BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF JESUS, LET US LIFT OUR SPIRITS IN PRAYER AND PRAISE!
Leader:
As those who experience temptation, let us present ourselves to the Most High!
People:
AS PEOPLE WHO KNOW THAT EVIL HAS BEEN OVERCOME, LET US APPROACH GOD IN HUMILTY AND GRATITUDE!
Collect
Heavenly God, you have created us above all creatures with a wonderful consciousness of ourselves and a marvelous potential for spirituality. Help us to seek and find our identities in you and your Word: that, properly centered, our lives may become holy, godly, and worthy to bear the name of the Christ, in which we pray. Amen
Prayer of Confession
Holy God, it pains us to confess just what messes our lives are as a result of our self-centeredness, and how futile and frivolous our many efforts at self-definition and self-help really are. We have tried to find ourselves in fads, philosophies, power, possessions, substances, superheroes, experts, and exercises, and still we feel off center, aimless, and worthless. Forgive us, we pray, and help us through your Spirit to get into touch with the image of yourself that you have planted within us, and to remake it with the full humanity of Jesus as our model. In his name we pray. Amen
