Call to Worship: Opening sentences (usually from scripture) that we recite to begin worship.
Prayer of Lament and Confession: A prayer to express grief and take responsibility for harm and injustice in our lives, our families, our church, our community, and/or our world. We typically pray communally, not because we have all committed exactly the same harms, but because we are complicit in the suffering of God’s creation and all equally in need of God’s grace.
Assurance of Grace: These words are a reminder of God’s grace. We do not receive forgiveness because we confess. In confessing, we become aware of our need for God’s grace and we are reminded that God still loves us.
Prayer for Illumination: This brief prayer, which always comes before we read scripture, calls upon the Holy Spirit to listen with the ear of our heart for God’s Word. It’s a prayer of humility–admitting that we cannot truly hear God’s Word for us on our own.
Affirmation of Faith: When we read scripture and hear a sermon, we are “listening” to the Word. The affirmation of faith is a way of “responding” to the Word we’ve received by recommitting ourselves to shaping our lives according to it. We typically affirm our faith communally, though sometimes we hear affirmations of faith from individuals.
Prayers of the People: A prayer to name both our grief and our gratitude before God. We thank God for Their grace that leads us to the good in our lives, and we ask for God’s presence and persuasion in our lives and our world. Typically, the prayer concludes with a communal recitation of a version of the Lord’s Prayer.
Charge: These words, spoken at the conclusion of worship, are intended to encourage and challenge us to live out the Word of God in the week ahead.
Blessing: Sometimes called a “benediction,” these words, though spoken by a pastor, are meant to communicate the sending love, grace, and presence of God that goes with the people as they leave worship and return to ordinary life.
