Here are worship materials for the 5th Sunday of Lent.
Call to Worship Psalm 51 Adapted
One: Have mercy on us, O God, according to your steadfast love;
All: according to your abundant mercy blot out our transgressions.
One: Wash us thoroughly from iniquity, and cleanse us of sin.
All: For we know our transgressions, our sin is ever before us.
One: Against you, you alone, have we sinned, and done what is evil in your sight,
All: You are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
One: Indeed, we were born guilty, sinners when our mothers conceived us.
All: You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach us wisdom in our secret imagining.
One: Purge us with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and we shall be whiter than snow.
All: Let us hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
One: Create in us each a clean heart, O God; put a new and right spirit within each of us.
All: Do not cast us away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from us.
One Restore to us the joy of your salvation; sustain in us a willing spirit.
All: Reassure us of your grace and goodness,
so deep and broad there are no bounds beyond which we could go.
One: Thus, it is so, as we proclaim in greeting one another,
“The peace of God be with you.”
All: And also with you.
Prayer of Confession (in unison)
Gracious God, we confess our living and striving amidst this world of sin. We confess also our participation in sin. We long to be free of its fetters and snares. We seek to be released from the structures of sin built into the history we inherit, and to be washed of the personal stain that distorts our desire and perverts all good purpose. We desperately wish to be in your good grace, with no confusion, no cruelty, no knowledge of anything but your righteousness and truth—and we grieve that this desperate wish is sometimes the very thing that sin will most exploit and turn to its destructive end.
Who will save us from this sorry state?
Grant us such faith that you are indeed doing just that. Grant us such faith that, as we journey together with you toward the cross of sacrificial love, you are moving to fulfill your good purpose in our midst, writing your law of love on our hearts until such time when all shall be fulfilled in your eternal day, when knowledge of you will be the all in all, and our hearts will be full of your wisdom, love, and abounding joy.
We pray this in Jesus’ name, your Son sent in love to the world and our Savior lifted in glory above the world that all might rise in glory as well. Amen.
Sung Response 19th c. Shaker text & tune adapted.
Flow, repentance. Flow; roll on. Roll on, thou blessed power.
I want to live in Godly knowledge, to know the Lord as he knows me.
Flow, repentance. Flow; roll on. Roll on, thou blessed power.