Seeing Jesus in our Neighbors
Last Sunday after Pentecost: Reign of Christ Sunday
Nov 23, 2014

Ezek 34:11-24		Psalm 100	 Eph 1:11-23	 Matt 25:31-46, 

Call to Worship

Know that the Holy One is God.
We are God’s people.
Worship the Holy One with gladness;
Come into God’s presence with singing.
Enter God’s gates with thanksgiving, and God’s courts with praise.
Make a joyful noise!
For God is good; 
God’s steadfast love endures forever, 
and God’s faithfulness to all generations.
Let us worship with thanks and joy! 
Let us praise God in song and word and prayer! 

Invocation
Gracious God, we long to know you better. 
Open us to recognize your presence, 
to receive you fully, 
and to be ready to follow your leading. Amen.

Prayer of Confession
Loving God, too often,
 we overlook the needs of people around us 
while we proclaim our devotion to you. 
We could do so much more to feed the hungry, 
clothe the naked, to welcome the stranger, and heal the sick.  
We fail to see how our prison system diminishes the humanity of all of us, 
how our medical system denies healing to the poor, 
how poverty leaves children without coats, 
how legal obstacles keep the strangers at a distance. 
Open our eyes to see your presence in every person,
and to respond to their needs so that we may be rightly called by your name. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon
Though we wander, God searches us out. 
Speaking through Ezekiel, God said, 
“As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, 
so I will seek out my sheep. 
I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered 
on a day of clouds and thick gloom.” 
God reaches out to us, longing to bring us ever closer. 
Hear this good news:  you are forgiven and free.

Call for the Offering
Generosity may come as an impulse, 
but it is cultivated by the practice of regular giving. 
Let us today move from beliefs to actions that make a difference in the world. 
We give in gratitude for God’s gifts to us, 
and we give because we need to live beyond ourselves. 
Use this time of offering as an opportunity 
to grow and to grow the realm of God.

Prayer of Dedication
God of abundance, 
we give these offerings of material goods 
as our commitment to give back to you 
and to care for your people.  
Let our giving remind us to see Jesus all around us. 
Use our offerings of money and of our lives 
for ministry to your purposes. Amen.

Benediction
May God give you wisdom and revelation.
May the eyes of your heart be enlightened.
May you know the hope to which God has called you,
And may the blessings 
of the Creator, the Redeemer and the Sustainer 
go with you this day and always. Amen.

Written by the Rev. Ruth Garwood, Interim Pastor at First Congregational UCC in Elyria, Ohio. Rev. Garwood is a certified leader of InterPlay, a system of forms in movement, story-telling and vocalizing that brings body and soul together, and brings communities together.  She teaches suicide first aid via Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training.  

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.