Thank You for helping us to make the shift from rushing to make it here on time to simply being here - present and abiding with You and our community. When we discover the delight of resting in sacred space, surrounded by others who desire the same thing, we understand Your words in a richer way – where two or three are gathered, Your presence is known in a mysterious way..
Thank You for weekly gifts of worship together, where Word and silence and melody spill into our souls, bringing us a taste of the abundance of life with You. Center our hearts and remind us again that we sense Your presence when the clutter of our minds is cleared and when simplicity of heart reigns in us.
Holy One, we seek to be honest with You and with ourselves. We have tucked away some things in compartments of our minds – where we replay anger and hurt and resentment. We cling to them because we don’t know how to let them go. Yet, we know that they are leaching joy and purpose from our lives. Empower us, O Lord, to release them, as we trust that You are clearing out anything that is an obstacle in our lives.
When we pause to be still, we think of all who need Your compassion – for those who are enduring a health crisis, for those who have reached the end of their resources, for those bracing for the hurricanes of life. We confess it is much too easy to be complacent – so, we ask You to open our hearts to the suffering in our world today.
We remember the ones whose lives have been torn apart by violence, either in word or in action. We beg mercy for those facing the onslaught of the storms and earthquakes, and for the countless refugees who are living in fear today. With open hearts, we lift each one into the safety of Your grace and ask You to hold them there.
In this community of faith, we pray for those who are deployed and serving our country:
· Tom Cavert
· Trinity Edwards
· Carson Huckaby
· Kelly Irvin
· Caleb Lee
· Kyle McCotter
· Scott Silberbauer
· Brian Smith
· Tommy Vailes
· Hayden Viskozki
And we pray for Your compassion to anoint the families of the 13 service members who gave their lives this week in Afghanistan. May Your Presence bring comfort in the midst of so much grieving.
We also lift to You, O Great Physician:
Julia Ann Andress, Carolyn Hudson, Ann Rogers, and Cliff Gullett, who are in the hospital, and Bill Newnam, Nelva Odell and Fred Dozier, who are continuing their recoveries at home.
Grant them the healing power of Your presence and Your love. And may our hearts embrace those who are hurting and those who are healing.
O God, untangle our lives and turn our focus towards You. Grant us simplicity in our speech, simplicity in our time, and simplicity in our priorities. Might we be a people of courage and hope, standing in faith together, as we pray in the name of the one who gives us life, Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray by saying these words together:
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 forever. Amen.
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