On Your Right and On Your Left
Prayers for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 14, 2014 

Call to Worship (inspired by Exodus 14:19-31, Matthew 18:21-35)
One:	We are giddy with excitement 
	for we have seen and done so many things
	and we want so much to share our adventures. But God says,
All:	Have patience with me.
One:	We are over the moon with the hopes we carry 
	for what will come next in our church, in our schools, 
	in our community and in our lives. 
	We cannot wait! But God says,
All:	Have patience with me.
One:	But, we know that this is the year! We have to believe it! 
	It has to be true! Because we know our God will do great things.
	Still, God says,
All:	Have patience with me.
One:	We hear you, God. You ask us to be patient
	even when so much is happening and we are filled with so much hope.
	In this time of worship, and wonder, help us. 
All:	Help us to find your patience.

Invocation	
Because this is a busy, busy, BUSY Sunday when so many congregations return to “regular” worship 
schedule after the summer or begin Sunday School by blessing teachers or bless backpacks, pause in this 
invocation for a moment of silence offering simply: 
As excited and eager as we are, let us be still with our God. 
Let us find God in this silence.

Prayer of Confession (inspired by Exodus 14:19-31, Matthew 18:21-35)
God of Our Every Hope, we push on. 
We trudge through and inevitably get stuck in the mud.
Because we think we understand. We believe we have all the answers.
And we are so angry when our hopes are not realized.
Forgive us. Forgive us for thinking we know better than you.
Forgive us for hurting our sisters and brothers. 
Forgive us for hurting ourselves. In your mercy, we pray.

Prayer for Mercy	Choose one of the settings of the traditional Prayer for Mercy (Kyrie) to be found in 
The New Century Hymnal, numbers 750-753.								
Words of Assurance/Passing of the Peace
God is patient when we are not.
God pulls us out of the mud and reminds us of the love 
we possess in our hearts and in our hands. 
As we make a way toward hope, 
take the hand of those on your right and on your left 
and feel the peace of Christ that is there. 
May the peace of Christ be with you.

Blessings on Your Right and on Your Left
The Exodus passage begs to be performed in some way and may be best done in a blessing. Using the aisle in your sanctuary (whether formed by pews or chairs), invite those being blessed this morning (Sunday School teachers, backpack holding kids, adults holding their iPhones or calendars, and anyone else) to stand in the aisle. Use blue streamers or even long bolts of cloth to create the “waters forming a wall” and invite those on the right an those on the left each offer a blessing to those in the aisle. Streamers should surely be waved as that blessing is offered — and if a wall is used, then it may end with a big hug wrapped in the waters of baptism. 

Call for the Offering 
	With all of the love that is in our hearts and hands,
	With all of the patience we can muster, 
	let us hope that with our God we can make a way where there is no way. 
	Let us give our gifts, our tithes and our offerings to this awesome promise. 

Dedication of the Offering
God of our Every Hope, 
we have seen your great work,
we believe you will do more great work.
We give our gifts, our hearts and our hands in that hope.
In Christ Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Charge
Right:	We will go to seek God’s patience.
Left:	We will believe in every hope.
Right: 	We will use our hearts and hands.
Left:	We will bless the world.

Benediction
All:	On our right and on our left,
	May God bless us all with renewed hope
	and great love. Amen.

Written by the Rev. Elsa A. Peters, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, presently serving as Senior Pastor of The United Churches of Olympia in Olympia, WA. She wonders about ministry and liturgy at: http://impossiblethingswithgod.blogspot.com/.

Copyright 2014 Local Church Ministries, Faith Formation Ministry Team, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH  44115-1100.  Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education.  All publishing rights reserved.