CALL TO WORSHIP
Young and old, give praise to God, who sustains us from childhood to adulthood, through birth and through death.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God of all places, familiar and foreign, forgive us if we are open only to the word of the strange prophet and closed to the truth when it comes from a familiar person. Excuse the pride that discounts what our neighbors and friends can do, assuming that only the distant expert could be wiser than ourselves. Pardon the doubt that prevents doing in our place what others have accomplished in other places but in similar circumstances. We are sorry if we have stood in the way of your work, blocking the advance of the church of your beloved Son, Jesus of Nazareth. Amen.

DECLARATION OF GOD'S FORGIVENESS
Hear the Good News! God's love lasts forever…