Welcome to this time of worship. While we may not be gathered in the same worship space, we are held together in Christ. Even though you may be at home, our Lord promises that where two or three are gathered in his name, he too is present.

This order of worship can be used alongside our online worship service or done together as a family around the kitchen table or on the couch. Know that while we may not be worshiping in the same space, the peace of Christ is with us.

Make your worship space at home comfortable. We invite you to light a candle as you are able to serve as a reminder of God’s presence with each of us.

The bolded words are designated for a group response.

If you are using this outside of our online worship service other readings can be read by one or multiple people gathered to worship. All present are invited and encouraged to lead as they are able.

Please log your participation using the Online Worship Attendance form found at the bottom of this page.

Coming from places that have seen better days, 

God bids us to celebrate this day, 

a day full of new possibilities. 

Coming with our breath taken away by grief, 

the Holy Spirit breathes new life within us, 

renewing our connection with God 

and with one another. 

Coming to worship seeking a hope that will endure, 

Christ unbinds the fetters that hold us in death, 

speaking in word and sacrament, 

and building community for holy service. 

God of life, present and promised, 

you are the One to whom we call: 

for you are the One who hears, 

and you are the One who acts, 

bringing us new life 

with your grace and love and power. 

Lead us in our time of worship, 

that we may be prepared to follow your lead 

in places where life is at risk— 

places where hope seems far away, 

places where dreams die during sleep. 

When we leave these walls, 

help us live the teachings we proclaim 

within this place of worship, 

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Contact: Linnea Carlson | lcarlson@mtolivet-umc.org

God our faithful Shepherd, we depend on you for everything we need:for daily food, for guidance and protection, for healing in injury and comfort in sorrow.You respond in abundant provision.Thank you for your tender care of us.Thank you for soothing the wounds of this life.Thank you that in the presence of enemies, especially the last enemy of death, you are with us, as Shepherd, Host, Home. 

Knowing your faithfulness in our lives, we bring before you the lives of others, the cares of this world, entrusting all things to your goodness and mercy. 

Bring healing to those who are ill in mind, body, or spirit. Bring release to those who are held captive by old hurts or new bonds that oppress and entangle. Bring freedom to those unjustly accused, relief to those burdened with debt, comfort to all who suffer from abuse of any kind. 

We pray for people living precariously in the midst of war. Protect, we pray, citizens and soldiers alike, and teach us to put away our weapons, taking up instead words of peace and reconciliation.  

By the power at work in Christ, break down the walls of hostility we build so that we may learn to live together graciously. 

We remember those living in the midst of drought and famine. We pray for rain to fall and crops to grow, and for generosity to overflow from our own hands and resources, until all your children receive their daily bread; until all your children have clean water to drink; until all your children have adequate shelter and medical care. 

Compel us to be better stewards of creation so that our habitation is sustainable and responsible. 

Loving God, help us to see the world as you see it; to see others as you see them; and to see ourselves rightly, too.Because you have come into this world for judgment, we can leave our judgments behind.Pursue us all with your goodness and faithful love until goodness and faithful love fills every heart and informs every action.

We pray these things in the name of the one who came that we might see, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who taught us to pray...

Our Father who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us,

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

And the power, and the glory,

For ever and ever

Amen