This is part of the worship series,
"Rattling Heaven's Door”
Series Introduction
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4
Week 5 | Week 6
Week Four: The Fourth petition
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
The Opening of Worship
Song
"O Lord, Hear My Prayer" (st. 2) Communaute de Taizé
Call to Worship
We gather on this Sunday to draw wisdom and courage from the One whose life and death and resurrection give us hope.
In this time of worship, we draw apart from life’s busyness to wrestle God in prayer, as Jesus taught.
Song
"O Lord, Hear My Prayer" (st. 1) Communaute de Taizé
Opening Litany
On this day, we step boldly, humbly into the presence of our God, praying with our suffering Savior the prayer he taught us to pray:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
With voices around the world, we call:
Forgive!
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Put aside from us our wicked ways, as we put aside the deeds of all who do us wrong.
—Gifts of Many Cultures, p. 48.
Silence
A time of reflection
Song
“The Lord’s Prayer” (st. 1–6) Westra, Post
Passing of God’s Peace
Prayer of Confession
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Leader: |
Our God and Lord, we confess our trespasses with shame: |
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Reader 1: |
We have remained deaf to the cries of those who hurt. We have remained dumb in the face of evil. We have allowed the shadow of death to hover over the innocently condemned. We have failed to proclaim with conviction your liberation for the oppressed. |
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All: |
We repent. |
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Men: |
Forgive our selfishness and greed, our unfaithfulness and pride, and give us the grace to forgive. |
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Women: |
Help us, through forgiving others, to experience your forgiveness. |
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All: |
For you will treat us as we treat others, and help us to fulfill our debts. —Gifts of Many Cultures, p. 51 |
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Leader: |
You change our lives, Lord, and shatter our complacency. |
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Reader 2: |
You take away the quietness of a clear conscience and guide us to forgiveness. You forgive every debt, every trespass and crossed boundary. Only then is that other peace made: Your peace. —inspired by a prayer from Dom Helder Camara in Bread of Tomorrow: Prayers for the Church Year |
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Leader: |
Give us the insight to know which boundaries to respect, and which to overcome. |
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All: |
Give us the strength to take down the barbs that keep us from each other, and from You. |
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Leader: |
Give us the understanding to know that we have all trespassed, that we have all been forgiven. |
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All: |
We cross the boundary into forgiveness! All thanks to Christ, who died for us— for each one of us. |
Silence
Song
“Forgive Our Sins as We Forgive” (st. 1–4) Herklots
Assurance of Pardon
As a father has compassion for his children,
so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.
For he knows how we were made;
he remembers that we are dust.
But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
—Psalm 103:13–14, 17–18 NRSVUE
Prayers of the People
The focus of this prayer is petition and intercession, including an invitation for different people to offer spoken prayers.
Song
“Nothing Can Trouble” St. Teresa
Proclamation of the Word
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture
Matthew 6:9–15; 18:21–35
Sermon
“Forgive Us Our Trespasses”
Sermon Notes
The marvelous parable that Jesus tells in Matthew 18 is at once a story of abundant grace and profound warning, for the merciful master becomes, at the refusal of passed on forgiveness, the stern judge.
This petition is really a prayer for release from whatever prevents us from moving into the hopeful future made possible by Jesus Christ. Forgiveness among humans is not in the order of absolution, but freedom from the past. When we do not forgive others their debt to us, we are in fact not free ourselves, for we remain attached to them. And as we hold them bound, so we remain bound. The good news is that the forgiveness we extend to others does not well up from our own strength but comes from our own experience of having been forgiven in the first place by God.
Forgiveness is God’s answer to the banal cycles of hostility, violence, and revenge. This petition thus becomes a prayer for an end to wars, feuds, and grudges. It calls for restorative justice and mediation as ways of resolving conflict and dispute in peaceable ways that promote renewal and restoration of persons to their communities.
Response to the Word
Song
Offering
Everyone comes forward to place their offerings in a basket
Song
"You God Are My Firmament" (st. 1–2) Winter
Prayer
The focus of this prayer is thanksgiving, including invitation for people to offer spoken prayers.
Song
"You God Are My Firmament" (st. 3) Winter
Service of Communion
"Concelebration" Wise
This is a sung liturgy for the Lord's Supper composed by Joe Wise. During the communion, a singer introduced verses and phrases the congregation echoed. Other sung arrangements of the Lord's supper liturgy include "The Lord Be With You" Rienstra
Dismissal
Closing Prayer
We Go Forth
We thank you, gracious God, for forgiving our trespasses against you and against each other; for restoring the boundaries we trample, heedless of respect, care, or consideration; for paying our debt.
We thank you for giving us the way to try again, the means to extend our hands and cross the boundaries to one another—and to you.
We are indebted to you, O God, for each gift in our lives.
Help us to forgive debts and mend what is broken; give us all new hearts. Amen.
Parting Blessing
Shalom, my friends, until we meet again, shalom.
Shalom.
Revised Common Lectionary
Year A: Season after Pentecost—Proper 19 (24)
