Pentecost 17b

L       Who is wise and understanding among you? Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (James 3:13; 4:7-8) Let us confess the ways we fail to draw near to God.

Silence is kept for confession and reflection

L        Behold, God is my helper;

C        I will offer you a sacrifice of praise, O Lord, for you have rescued me from every trouble… (Psalm 54:4,6-7)

L        Who is wise and understanding among you? …the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. (James 3:13, 17)

Pentecost 16b

L       The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward. (Isaiah 50:4-5) Let us confess the ways we fail to listen to the word that sustains.

Silence is kept for confession and reflection

L       Gracious is the Lord and righteous;

C       Our God is full of compassion. The Lord rescues us from death; our eyes from tears and our feet from stumbling. (Psalm 116:5,8)

L        The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; It is the Lord God who helps me; who will declare me guilty? (Isaiah 50:4 7, 9)

Pentecost 15b

L        What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (James 2:14-17) Let us confess the ways we fail to live our faith.

Silence is kept for confession and reflection

L         Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help;

C       who keeps His promises forever and gives justice to those who are oppressed, who gives food to the hungry and sets the captive free. (Psalm 148:5, 7)

L       Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:10, 12-13) 

Pentecost 14b

L       You must understand this, my beloved: be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. (James 1:19,22) Let us confess the ways we fail to be doers of the word.

Time for confession and reflection

L          O Lord, who may dwell on your holy hill?

C        Those who do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart; who do not slander or do evil to their neighbors (Psalm 15:1-3)

L       Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change… he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. (James 1:17-18)

Pentecost 13b

L       Take up the whole armor of God so that having done everything you will stand firm. (Ephesians 6:13) Let us confess the ways we fail to stand firm.

Silence is kept for confession and reflection

L       Then the people answered,

C       “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; we will serve the Lord who is our God." (Joshua 34:16, 18)

L       The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and God's ears are open to their cry. The righteous cry and the Lord hears them and delivers them from all their troubles. (Psalm 34:15, 17)

Pentecost 12b

L        Who among you takes pleasure in life…? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from lying words. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. (Psalm 34:12-14) Let us confess the ways we fail to pursue peace.

Silence is kept for confession and reflection

L       Let us be careful how we live.

C         (With wisdom we will) lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight. (Proverbs 9:6)

L       (Therefore) sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:19-20)

Pentecost 11b

L       ...do not grieve the Holy Spirit… (but) put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:30-32) Let us confess the ways we grieve the Holy Spirit.

Silence is kept for confession and reflection

L         Proclaim with me the greatness of the LORD;

C       I will bless the Lord at all times and the praise of God shall ever be in my mouth. (Psalm 34:1, 3)

L       Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2)