Here is a Call to Worship, Invocation, and Prayer of the People from our Incarceration Sunday, when we consider the issues around incarceration and our prison system. This weekend we focused on a wonderful program in MA, called Partakers and the long standing relationships that can come from mentoring someone who is incarcerated.
Call to Worship (DMA)
Pastor: Jesus could have spent time only with the rich and the powerful;
People: instead, he knelt on bended knee.
Pastor: Jesus could have spent his time gathering prestige and power;
People: instead, Jesus sought out the troubled, the wayward, the lost, and the least.
Pastor: Jesus could have reached out for the crown of an earthly king;
People: instead, he lifted up the lowly.
Pastor: Jesus made straight the crooked path
People: and smoothed out the rough road.
Pastor: Jesus looked to the margins and welcomed all in.
ALL: Jesus reminded us that all are worthy of God’s love and redemption.
Invocation: (DMA)
Holy One of Grace and Mercy, We come before you to learn the way of Christ. We come before you to ask forgiveness for the times we wandered and stepped in front of our siblings in need. We come before you to offer praise and thanksgiving for all you are and all you have done. Meet us here in this time and place that we might, through community, get to know you more fully. AMEN
Prayer of the People (DMA)
Our prayer, O Lord, extends today beyond unexpected borders – not national borders, but borders that we create right here in our country: borders that come in the form of bars and borders that take the form of quiet exclusion.
We pray for the youth that are caught in juvenile courts. We pray that at least one adult will be able to get through to them. We pray that they might know their value and worth. We pray for their future and their safety.
We pray for the youth that get tried as adults, who are pressed up into a system that fails to take into account the psychology of development. We pray for their protection, for their ability to endure a harsh system, for their resilience.
We pray for the first time offender – for all the steps that brought them to this place. We pray for their future. We pray for the possibility of restorative justice that might allow them to reintegrate with the community.
We pray for the reoffender, for the many who do not see options or have alternate opportunities. We pray for a system that sometimes looks for the slip up. We pray for the challenges they face once the word “criminal” or “felon” is attached to their name.
We pray for the lifers – especially for those who have used the time well and done the work that needed to be done and yet are not eligible for release.
We pray for our criminal justice system which often puts more weight on retribution than on restoration and rehabilitation.
We pray for the families of those incarcerated and the challenges they face because their loved one is behind bars.
And of course, we pray for the victims and all who have been hurt and harmed.
May we work toward a world where pain and suffering are no more.
Lord, hear our prayer. We pray in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together saying: (Insert the Lord’s prayer as your church says it)
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Wandering and Wondering 