Prayers based on Matthew 22.1-14

week 5

Prayers Based on Matthew 22:1-14
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

Prayer: Come to the Feast
In the midst of all you are facing
Your labor
Your responsibilities
Your hustle
Hear the invitation
“Come to the Feast!”

In the midst of all you are facing
Your burdens
Your shadows
Your shame
Hear the invitation
“Come to the Feast!”

In the midst of all you are facing
Your longing
Your suffering
Your distractions
Hear the invitation
“Come to the Feast!”

Come, eat and drink
Come, dress up and dance
Come, rejoice in the King’s delight
Your presence
Your “Yes!” to Sacred, Lifelong, Union

Listen…
Listen……
Grace is calling
Come, the feast awaits

Prayer Poem/Hymn Text: Come, Sup with God
Meter 88.88 (LM)
Suggested tunes:
HURSLEY (United Methodist Hymnal #339) or
GIFT OF LOVE (United Methodist Hymnal #408)
*I’d be very interested in working with a composer to set this to music

Come, sup with God all you who thirst
All you who hunger be the first
Feast on Christ’s Body and his Blood
O taste and see this meal of Love

Come, children, elders, blind, and spent
Come, foolish, able, indigent
Confess, repent, and then receive
Forgiveness flows abundantly

Come often, friend, for here is grace
made manifest in time and place
Christ’s mercy floods our brokenness
with healing balm and righteousness

Come to be changed. Come to be fed.
Come savor Christ, the Life, the Bread.
Drink deep the gift of healing poured
and leave a vessel of our Lord.

Sing Praise to Christ our Host and meal
Whose saving work provides the seal
for us once bound, now freed from death
to live for Christ with every breath

______________

For the next few months, I’ll be posting prayers to accompany Bishop Ken Carter’s Bible Study on Facebook. Each week, Bishop Carter will bring in a guest to speak about the passage. We’ll be walking through the last chapters of the Gospel of Matthew. 

You’re most welcome to read along and to join this Facebook discussion group. You don’t need to be a Methodist or attend a Methodist church. All are welcome and all means all.

May the grace of God’s word, the challenge, and the call, inspire us to great faith and great good works in Jesus’ name. – Lisa <

Come to the Feast © 2020 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
Come, Sup with God © 2000 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Call to Worship- Holy Spirit, Holy One

ONE:
People of God, Rejoice!
Our Eternal and Beautiful God is near
The One who gives us new birth by water and Spirit
The One who names us beloved
The One who delights in our very existence
Come and worship

ALL:
Holy Spirit, Holy One
Holy Spirit, Descending Dove
Alight on me that I may know your presence
Anoint me that I may know your call
Fill me that I may know your power
Guide me that I may know your path
Name me that I may know, that I know, that I know who I am
Amen

This call to worship is designed to follow the song Set a Fire by Will Reagan, CCLI Song # 5911299, © 2010 United Pursuit Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

***********
Holy Spirit, Holy One © 2020 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
by Lisa Degrenia (www.revlisad.com)
Please contact Lisa for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Prayer- Come, O Come Emmanuel

Harpers_Magazine,_Christmas_1898-cropped

Harper’s Magazine, Christmas 1898 by Harvey Ellis. Via Wikimedia Commons.

First Verse of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Matthew 1:20-23
An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet Isaiah: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”

Come, O Come Emmanuel
Root of Jesse
Light of the World
Grace on grace on grace

Come, O Come Emmanuel
You who are flesh
Vulnerable and Lowly and Small

Come, O Come Emmanuel
You who are Great
Holy and Powerful and Forever

Come, O Come Emmanuel
The Fullness of God with us
Make your home in our heart
Replace the stone with your throne

Come, O Come Emmanuel
Save us
Ransom us
Heal us and Raise us

Come, O Come Emmanuel

***********
O Come, O Come Emmanuel © 2019 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
by Lisa Degrenia (www.revlisad.com)
Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

How Large Your Heart, a call to worship based on Matthew 18.21-35

GOD is love, i john 4 7 8Based on Matthew 18:21-35, parable of the unforgiving servant

How large your heart, my King
How great your forgiveness
How generous your mercy

How large your heart, my King
How deep your compassion
How quick your charity

How large your heart, my King
How extravagant your grace
How present your hope

Glory to your Holy Name!

*****
How Large Your Heart © 2017 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Prayer- The Treasure Within Us (2 Corinthians 4)

treasure clay jarsBased on 2 Corinthians 4:7-12

This prayer could be offered by a single voice, a group praying in unison, or as indicated with a single voice on the regular print and all voices on the bold print.

Yes, we are merely clay jars
But within us is treasure
The extraordinary resurrection power of Jesus
Hallelujah! Glory to God!

Yes, we are afflicted
Yes we are confused
But within us is treasure
The extraordinary resurrection power of Jesus
We are not crushed
We do not give in to despair
Hallelujah! Glory to God!

Yes, we are persecuted
Yes, we are knocked down
But within us is treasure
The extraordinary resurrection power of Jesus
We are not abandoned
We are not destroyed
Hallelujah! Glory to God!

Yes, death is constantly at work in us
Yes, we are chipped and cracked, frail and mortal
But it is nothing compared to the brutal death and suffering of Jesus
It is nothing compared to his victorious resurrection

His extraordinary and endless life is at work in us
We are his treasure
We wield his power
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Glory to God!

********
The Treasure Within Us © 2017 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.