Document
Call to Prayer:
What does it mean for Christians to love and serve our fellow human beings today?
Sound of a bell
In a world wounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and by the scourge of many other sins whom are we called to love and care for?
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In a world of religious intolerance, discrimination, racism, economic and ecological injustice who is wounded, and whom have we wounded or neglected?
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Where in our wounded world might we be surprised by seeing Christ-like compassion in action today?
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Opening Prayer:
Leader: God of compassion and solidarity, we come together as people with open hearts.
All: As people willing to love and serve our neighbors.
L: We also come as people with open hands
All: As people willing to love and serve alongside our neighbors of different faiths.
L: We come as followers of your son Jesus Christ
All: We come seeking to deepen our faith, sustain our hope and widen our love. Amen.
Song: Where Charity and Love Prevail
- Where charity and love prevail, there God is ever found;
Brought here together by Christ's love, by love are we thus bound
- With grateful joy and holy fear God's charity we learn;
let us with heart and mind and soul now love God in return
- Forgive we now each other's faults, as we our faults confess;
and let us love each other well in Christian holiness
- Let strife among us be unknown, let all contention cease;
Be God's the glory that we seek, Be ours God's holy peace
- Let us recall that in our midst dwells God's begotten son,
as members of his body joined, we are in Christ made one
- No race nor creed can love exclude, if honored be God's name;
Our family embraces all whose Father is the same
Text and music copyright 1960, World Library Publications, wlpmusic.com Text: CM, Ubi Caritas, 9th cent; tr by Omer Westendorf 1916-1997. Music: Paul Benoit, OSB, 1893-1979
Confession
God of grace and mercy, with the reassurance that you are a God who forgives, we retrospect with sincere hearts how we, who are ourselves wounded by sin, have wounded others, and more widely all of God’s creation.
With penitent hearts we confess our reluctance to listen to the cries of both our mother earth and our sisters and brothers who suffer. We admit the need for an ecological conversion of attitudes and actions that will help us to care more effectively for our world, paying attention to the groaning of the entire creation.
With aching hearts we recognize that, as communities, we also have a history of abuse that has wounded the most vulnerable among us. We acknowledge our temptation to blame the poor for their poverty, and those who are hurt for their wounds.
With contrite hearts we repent for the sin of pride and prejudice that trap us in entrenched positions that create and perpetuate division. We repent for our complicity in different systems of injustice and oppression that we have tacitly perpetuated through our silence and neutrality.
All: Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison, Kyrie Eleison
Absolution:
Leader: May God our loving creator, who through Jesus Christ has opened up for us a new way of being, forgive us our sins, and produce in us, through the empowerment of the Spirit, works of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness gentleness and self-control and guide us away from the path of conceit, competition and envy. Amen.
Bible Reading - Luke 10: 25-37
Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Holy Wisdom, Holy Word,
Thanks be to God.
Reflection
Song: Jesu, Jesu, Fill us with your love
(by Thomas S. Colvin, Ghanaian Folk Song, harmony by Charles H. Webb, 1988)
Intercessory Prayers – (David Marshall/WCC)
Leader: God of healing compassion, as we open ourselves to serving a world wounded by COVID-19, through solidarity within the churches and beyond, may we derive strength from the example of the one we follow, Jesus the Christ, who came not to be served but to serve. Imitating the love and generosity of the Good Samaritan, may we support the weak and vulnerable, console the afflicted, relieve pain and suffering, and ensure the dignity of all. Lord, in your mercy,
All: Hear our prayer.
L: God our Father, Creator of all people, teach us to see your image and likeness in all our neighbours of every race and religion, to desire peace and justice for them as for ourselves, to discern opportunities to work with them for the healing of your world, to learn humbly from one another, and to rejoice in the gifts you give us through them.
Lord, in your mercy,
All: Hear our prayer.
God our Redeemer, through Jesus Christ you have revealed to us the fullness of your grace and truth, and in his death and resurrection you have reconciled the world to yourself. Grant to us that we may live as his faithful disciples and witnesses in this world, walking together in peace and respect with those who follow other ways, loving our neighbours as ourselves, and with them building just and inclusive societies which reflect your good purposes for all people.
Lord, in your mercy,
All: Hear our prayer.
Come, Holy Spirit, in wind and fire. Burn up all that clings to us of the old ways of pride, isolation, and exclusion. Blow where you will, taking us where we would not otherwise go, connecting us in solidarity with those we would not otherwise know, filling us with power for humble service in the way of Christ. Breathe your healing love upon us and upon your whole creation. So nurture in us a harvest of love, joy, and peace. Come, Holy Spirit.
Lord, in your mercy,
All: Hear our prayer.
Lord Jesus Christ, you come among us in hiddenness and humility, offering us healing and fellowship through those from whom we may turn away and calling us to be generous and compassionate beyond our own resources. Forgive us for our shrunken imagination and blinkered vision; open our eyes that we may see you in all your ways and receive all that you would give to us through others. Expand our hearts and free our hands for acts of service that will glorify you and bless the world.
Lord, in your mercy,
All: Hear our prayer.
God our help and confort in times of trouble, we bring before you particularly today the communities in Mozambique who are facing a dire situation due to cyclone Eloise and the ongoing religious violence in the “Cabo Delgado” province. We pray for all religious leaders and local workers who are ministering in these areas that their work will touch and transform the lives of the communities they serve at this very difficult time through compassion and solidarity.
Lord, in your mercy,
All: Hear our prayer.
The Lord’s Prayer: (in our different languages)
Closing Prayer:
God of life, there are days
when the burdens we carry are heavy on our shoulders and weigh us down,
when the road seems dreary and endless, the skies grey and threatening,
when our lives have no music in them,
our hearts lonely,
our souls losing their courage.
Flood the path with light.
Turn our eyes to where the skies are full of promise;
tune our hearts to brave music;
give us the sense of comradeship with heroes and saints of every age.
So quicken our spirits
that we may be able to encourage the souls of all,
who journey with us on the road of life,
to your honour and glory. (Attributed to Augustine of Hippo)
Blessing:
Go out into the world in faith seeking to be instruments of God healing love.
Go out into the world in hope – in the power of Christ’s resurrection, which assures us that love is stronger than any woundedness, however deep
Go out into the world in love empowered by the Spirit who sends us out into the world to be good news in it.
And May God, the holy Trinity bless us and lead us to live fully into what God created us to be – bearers of the divine image, and sharers of this image with others, and build together a world marked by healing and hope. Amen.
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As part of the commemoration of the Interfaith Harmony Week the WCC and the LWF, alongside the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, are organising a public interfaith webinar on “Women and Interfaith Engagement: Sharing lessons learnt during COVID-19 and beyond” on 4 February 2021, Thursday 15:00 CET. For more information and registration please use the following link:
https://www.lutheranworld.org/content/women-and-interfaith-engagement
