Call to Worship, Opening Prayer: John 6

Here’s a call to worship and opening prayer inspired by John 6.  It comes from the Ministry Matters website.

Call to Worship
(inspired by John 6)

Why have you come to this place?
We have come to find Jesus.
Why have you come today?
We are tired in body and spirit.
Jesus bids you sit and be at ease.
We are hungry with nothing to eat.
Come and eat your fill.
But there are only five barley loaves and two fish.
There is plenty for all.
Will we find wholeness here?
Jesus gathers the fragments of our lives,
that nothing may be lost.

Opening Prayer
(inspired by John 6)

God of our hopes and dreams,
we are empty, and long to be filled;
we are hungry, and long to be fed;
we are lost, and long to be found.
Gather us into your love,
and pick up the pieces of our lives,
just as Jesus gathered up the fragments
of the five loaves and two fish
that remained after feeding the five thousand.
Call us anew to eat our fill
and to find our true nourishment in Jesus,
the bread of heaven. Amen.

~ Adapted from The Abingdon Worship Annual 2009, © 2008 Abingdon Press. Posted on the Ministry Matters website.  http://www.ministrymatters.com/