24C*
A Call to Worship
Passion Sunday Year C 2010
Psalm 31: 9-16

Hear our cries, O Lord our God as we come before you.
Today, O God, we bring you all our pain and our sorrow.

O God, our friends have failed us! They have rejected us!
We give thanks that our God never fails or rejects us.

O Lord our God, your endless love for each of us is unfailing.
What a special blessing it is to be able to rely on God’s love!
Our lives and our living are in God’s hands, and we confidently,
gather for worship, and bring to God our humble thanks. Amen.

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Prayers of Confession
Passion Sunday Year C 2010
Psalm 31: 9-16

Loving God, we come to you now to confess the
many emotions that rule our life, our living and our loving.

We are grateful for the strong and healthy emotions
that build up and strengthens each of our relationships,
but we confess that we also have unhealthy emotions
that hinder or even destroy long and cherished relationships.

We confess to the sin of possessiveness and greed,
when we need to always be ‘first’ with other people
and to have the ‘best’ of everything - before anyone else.

We confess to the sin of jealousy and suspicion,
when we take delight in ruining other people’s reputations.

We confess to the sin of always wanting our own way,
regardless of how this affects ourselves or other people.

We confess to the sin of thinking that we are better than
anyone else in God’s eyes; and foolishly disregarding
completely the knowledge that because of the quality and
depth of God’s love, it is shared equally amongst all people,
whether any of us respond or not to God’s merciful love.

We have a deep need for God’s love and forgiveness,
and we give thanks that that love is freely offered to us. Amen.

Declaration of Forgiveness

Loving God, you hear our confessions,
and because of your compassion, you pardon us.
The light of God’s love shines into our dark world;
the warmth of God’s love melts our cold hearts,
forgiving us of all our sin.
Thanks be to God. Amen

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A Personal Meditation
Passion Sunday Year C 2010
Psalm 31: 9-16

I am hoping and praying that I am not being too presumptuous
in earnestly claiming you today as MY God, O Lord my God.
I am in such desperate need of you! There is a gaping hole
within me that can only be filled with your love and mercy.



I am in a complete mess! I am so miserable! My bones
are like chalk, and my muscles have collapsed into jelly
because of my physical, relational, emotional and spiritual
collapse. Depression presses in on me from every direction.

Hear my cries, O Lord MY God.

I am rejected wherever I go! People cross the road, so they
do not have to look at me, even my neighbours and friends
avoid me. People are tearing my reputation to shreds.
I hear their lying and spiteful words as they pass me by.



I feel battered and beaten, rejected. Despite all this
character assassination, I KNOW that you - my God
are there for me, pouring strength into my bones,
and giving substance to my tendons and my muscles.



I know I can live only one day at a time, but on this dreadful day
I pray that you will shine your love into my dark and dreary world;
may your radiance warm me so that I am no longer frozen to the core;
and let me feel the arms of MY God underneath me, and all around me.

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Acknowledgements:
Unless stated otherwise, all Bible readings and extracts used in these weekly Prayers and Meditations are from
‘The New Revised Standard Version’ Copyright © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

*The additional weekly numbering is from the Revised COCU Indexing Scheme
COCU = ('Consultation on Church Union'); as it offers an easy sequential numbering
for the Revised Common Lectionary for the Church Calendar.

If any part of these Prayers and/or Meditations is used in shared worship, please provide
the following acknowledgement:
© 2010 Joan Stott – ‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year C. Used with permission.

jstott@netspace.net.au

Download/view a pdf file of this document here: pass_sundc_2010.pdf

© 2010 Joan Stott - " The Timeless Psalms" RCL Psalm Year C