Liturgy: 11th Sunday After Pentecost, Daniel 2:29-45 (August 4, 2024)

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Hymns

Hymn GTG #30, “O God, in a Mysterious Way”
Hymn GTG #507, “Come to the Table of Grace”
Hymn GTG #376, “When All Is Ended”


Call to Worship (based on Daniel 2:29-30)

Leader: Our human minds are always seeking answers.
People: We beseech the revealer of mysteries to tell us.
Leader: We long to know the future that God has planned for us.
People: But the Lord teaches us to value wisdom more than answers.
Leader: There is wisdom in honoring God’s chosen revelations.
People: May this holy wisdom guide us today and always.


Call to Confession (based on Daniel 2:30)

Leader: In confession, we don’t tell God anything that God doesn’t already know. Rather, we open our minds and rend our hearts to allow this divine knowledge in. For how can we receive God’s mercy in joy and gladness without fully comprehending our need for it?


Popcorn Prayer of Confession (based on Daniel 2:37-43)

You are invited to speak a word or short phrase that describes a personal or collective sin of which you repent and seek forgiveness. When the gathered community is finished sharing, we pray together:

People: Revealer of mysteries, we think so highly of ourselves. We consider our own opinions to be as valuable as gold, while we see those around us as lesser. We accuse our siblings in Christ of compromising your values with those of this world, like iron mixed with clay. Yet we don’t even know ourselves. We cannot see our own compromises, our own biases, our own egos. Only you know us fully, O Lord. Forgive us our hubris and help us to see ourselves as we are: beloved in our imperfection. In your mercy, hear our prayers…

(Silent prayers of personal confession)

Declaration of Forgiveness (based on Daniel 2:35. 44)

Leader: Human things will crumble and blow away, but the kindom of God will stand firm forever. Receive this eternal gift of the kindom: in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven!
People: Thanks be to God!