Salt City Prayers

Salt City Prayers (The Sunday morning prayers collected here were offered at Erwin United Methodist Church in Syracuse NY, 1985-1995.) Gracious God, loving and holy and just, We lift our hearts in thanks and praise this morning. We come to this sanctuary ready again to live as glad hearted women and men. With glad hearts, curious minds, and eager spirits we offer ourselves in worship. Bless us, we pray, by thy presence, which we invoke in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Are we as ready to receive the gifts of grace as we should be? Have we been prepared, in these days, to notice the bountiful goodness by which Divine Love has touched us? Do we need to confess a little slowness, a little occasional lack of perception, shortness of spiritual breath, a slight or not so slight disregard for what we have been given? O Lord, as a people of glad heart, we confess that we have not always been fully a people of open hands. Open us in these moments of silence, to a new rebirth of wonder. Great art thou, O Lord our God, and fully to be praised, morning by morning. We pray for thy blessing in this hour, thy gifts of confidence, certainty and sureness for the days to come. Help us to receive, with confidence, the many surprising gifts embedded in our personal lives. Help us to notice the unexpected possibility, the new friend, the unusual word, the strange connection. Help us to see more than we plan to see, to receive more than we expect to receive, with the confidence born of obedience. Teach us to claim some certainty in the midst of uncertainty, as a church and and as a congregation. Teach us we pray the path we best should trod into the unforeseeable future. Teach us rightly to connect yesterday with tomorrow, in the light of thy certain love. Shower with cool saving rain and moist power the leaders of this world, with sureness to seek justice and peace. Help those in the torn out conflicts of our day to continue daily, surely, to seek the promise of the Prince of peace. Kindle daily in the hearts of great leaders an even greater desire for peace, with a sense that surely goodness and mercy shall follow. Through Jesus Christ our Lord Dear Lord We offer a common prayer, a prayer that our families, torn apart by abuse and distrust and anger and jealousy and unkindness, show kindness and pity to one another. We offer a common prayer, a prayer that our decisions in life about our callings, how we are to use our time and spend our money, how we make a life not just a living, will be illumined by grace and generosity. We offer a common prayer that, over time, and by hard experience, we may learn that the meaning of a word, a deed, an act is not found in the sentiment or feeling in which it was uttered or offered, but just in what it does for others, not in what we meant by it, but in what it does to others. We offer a common prayer, a prayer that our grandfathers and mothers, in their age and infirmity, will receive care and kindness that accords with the warning to honor father and mother that you own days be long upon the earth. We offer a common prayer, a prayer that women—our grandmothers, mothers, sisters, daughters, granddaughters, all—granted suffrage less than 100 years ago, will be spared any and all forms of harassment and abuse, verbal or physical, on college campuses, in homes and families, in offices and bars, in life and work, and long having suffered and now having suffrage, will in our time rise up to be honored, revered, and compensated, without reserve, but with justice and mercy. We offer a common prayer, finally a prayer not of this world, but of this world as a field of formation for another, not just creation but new creation, not just life but eternal life, not just health but salvation, not just heart but soul, not just earth, but heaven. God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way; Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray. Lest, our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee, Lest, our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee, Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand, True to our God, true to our native land. In a season of change, may we embrace what lasts. In a time of loss, may we hug the new. In an era of decrease, may we find the unexpected. In an epoch of debt, may we (sacrificially) endow the future. In a day of disappointment, may we savor simple gifts. In a month of worry, may we undress our anxiety. In a year of decline, may we again see winter’s gifts. In an hour of depression, may we, with effort, accept kindness. In a moment of fear, may we grasp the gift of faith. In a morning of acedia, may we enter our prayer closet. In an afternoon of besetting sin, may we recognize, humbly, our humanity. In an evening of loneliness, may we experience graceful solitude. As dusk comes, gracious God, help us walk in newness of life. Dear God We come now to our weekly moment of common prayer. You are invited to place yourself in a posture that supports and expresses the prayer of the heart—kneeling, standing, bowing, seated. We enter the prayer through the singing of our call to prayer, Lead Me Lord Gracious God, Holy and Just Thou from whom we come and unto whom our spirits return Thou source of Wisdom, fount of Wisdom, well spring of saving Wisdom Make of us, we pray, an addressable community That we might listen That we might hear That we might understand That we might listen, hear and understand before we analyze or criticize Make of us, we pray, an addressable community Make of us, we pray, a benevolent community That we might polish our proclivity for the second thought, the second try, the second chance That we might expect to uncover a latent goodness, latent in others and in ourselves and across this great, though troubled, globe That we might become good in ways that become the Gospel Make of us, we pray, a benevolent community Make of us, we pray, a soulful community Alive to spirit, alive to love, alive to grace Take away from our souls all strain and stress Let us breathe again, breathe deeply, breathe the soulful breath of life Make of us, we pray, a soulful community For we have gathered and bear witness to Jesus, our beacon not our boundary, who taught us to pray, saying… Dear God Holy and loving We pause in this evening hour to offer our thanks and praise. For the very gifts of life and faith, of community and work, of safe space and gracious time, we are deeply thankful. Bless our time together in this place, we pray. For the daily chances to encourage one another, to give another generation a place to grow in learning and virtue and piety, we are truly thankful. Bless our work together on this campus, we pray. For the example of those honored tonight, whose steady service, valued loyalty, and hard work we celebrate here, we are happy and thankful. Bless our life together across this great University, we pray. Spirit of Life: Thou our source of meaning and hope, Before we break bread together, we pause to be thankful for bread to break together, remembering those, far and near, who are in need. Now on land and sea descending brings the night its peace profound. Let our vesper prayer be blending with the holy calm around. We invoke thy blessing in this hour. Amen Dear God We pause in prayer to place before you all the past year has taught. Our learning from this year we present to you. We bundle together what we have known and the ways we have grown in tasks partly completed, in challenges met, in losses unexpected and foreseen, in spurts of creative energy, in disappointments, in surprises, in changed relationships. All this past experience we give over to your care and keeping. Together we seek your blessing for what is yet to be. We seek your blessings of imagination and insight for the learning in the year to come. For keen eyes to sense unexpected opportunity. For faithful ears to hear a call to speak truth. For steady obedience to Christ Jesus, his teaching, his healing, his church, his spirit. For curiosity to discern the odd joys embedded in trials. O Lord, we pray, make of all that will come toward us a pattern of meaningful learning and growth. For all that has been, we offer Thanks For all that will be, we say Yes. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Gracious God Our Heavenly Father Source of life, maker of all things, sole judge of all people To Thee we raise our hearts. We ask your blessing for the holiday season. As the days darken, spur us to shine with the light of love and truth. As the pace quickens, gentles us to pause, pray, listen and help. As our joy abounds, point us toward joyless spots, shivering souls, addicted brothers, abusive behavior And help us share with others. As we bask in the comforts of life, Hold before us the Cross of Christ, In whose service we find Meaning for life Light in Darkness Joy in December And words of prayer. For life and breath and this good earth We give Thee thanks O Lord. For people of kind hearts and generous spirits We give Thee Thanks O Lord. For skillful craftsmen whose work praises Thee We give Thee thanks O Lord. For the cross of Christ, that reminds us of thy presence, Even in the darkest hour We give Thee thanks O Lord. For the promise of heaven, for thy love beyond death, We give Thee thanks O Lord. For the life in our communion of saints We give Thee thanks O Lord. The world around us we see changing With frightening speed Peace where once there was cold war Tension and armament where once, there was order Nation rises against nation and We are more open to your Word for us. Random hurt has touched us, as a nation and a church Pleasant afternoon hour gives way to injury An evening of quiet—to a phone call with bad news A medical visit has included a disturbing portent for the future. Our life has been touched by random hurt And we are open to your healing word. The shadow of heaven has again fallen upon Our patch of green earth To you we release another soul. Even in Christ, O Lord, we lack The tongue and the heart To face death. So, we are open to your word of grace. In this season of returning As we return to home and school and church We are open to Thee Restore and rekindle our faith, we ask Through Christ our Lord. We do pray to Thee today In earnest, in serious reflection All our life is open to You Our good deeds Our burning hungers Our mistakes Our bad habits Our thinking There it is We lift our baggage to you Lord hear our prayer Hear us we beseech Thee O Lord (Silence) Today we intercede for the needs of the world We pray that the hungry will be fed We pray that our nation will become just We pray that our children will stay clean We pray that our President will be healthy We pray that our Bishop will be healthy We pray that love will grow here We pray that others will know Jesus through us We pray that we will not fear our enemies We pray that we will become more generous Hear us we beseech Thee O Lord (Silence) We take the name of Jesus, the Outcast, and pray O Lord Our lives are circled by forces beyond our control. Hear our prayer. An uncertain future awaits our world as nation wars with nation. We pray for peace, for a forestalling of bloodshed, for leaders with wisdom that makes peace. The poor of the earth cry out for our help, and we hear the cry, though a long way off. May our ears be pricked that some peace will grow from a new justice in the world. Life races past us, and our days disappear before even we have held them close. Abiding hurts clutter our minds and hearts. A weariness befalls us. Lord, we hear your call to us, your calling for us to follow Jesus. Give us grace to pick up our cross and follow along. Temper our anger, we pray. Kindle our hope, we pray. Inspire our outlook, we pray. Quicken our imagination, we pray. Open our mind, we pray. Make us liberal folks, slow to judge, quick to give, eager to help, trusting in forgiveness that abounds beyond our willingness to believe it. Dear Lord We reach up our hearts to Thee out of all the confusion of this week. Bowed and quiet, now, warmed and cheerful, here, we stretch out our souls to Thee. As your people, the sheep of your pasture, we turn again to Thee. We pray to Thee. Claiming no big win. Hiding, from ourselves, no sin, big or small. Promising no new resolution, yet. Conceiving no masterpiece of our own. Not trusting our own selves right now, but praying to Thee. O Holy God, so far off and somehow yet so near, like light, like hope, to Thee we do now pray. Lord hear our prayer. We pray that paths of friendship will up between warring camps, whether on the River Jordan or on Meadowbrook. We pray that wise men and women will receive mantels of authority, in time, whether in Washington or in Cicero. We pray that our willingness to criticize others will not humorously our reluctance to look at ourselves. We pray that we will not fall in love with what hurts us—depression, addiction, cynicism, stoicism, eroticism. We pray for a new rebirth of wonder at your Word. We pray for clean winter quiet in our hearts. We pray for our preacher this day, for our neighbor in need, for children everywhere, for those imprisoned in nursing homes, for one who is sagging, for another who is bloated, for another who is empty, for another who is full. O Lord Thy silent presence bids us pray. In thy presence we are thankful and joyful and hopeful. We bow before Thee. Bowing our heads in reverence for Love, we make our common prayer. In the stillness of this sanctuary, we are free to pray, to bow before Thee, to seek again a quiet center. Speak to us, we ask. Speak in silence, without words, speak of new life, and love. Speak in the quiet center, in the heart. We bow before Thee. Our bowing shows our intent to love Thee. Help us to follow through. Help us to carry through on our intention to love Thee. We have meant to think kindly of those who criticize us behind our backs. We have meant to look for good in those who find fault in us. We have meant to live your Good News by speaking well of those who speak ill of us. We have meant to smile at those who frown at us. We have meant to forgive, firmly, those who knowingly have hurt us. We have meant even to bear witness to Love by bearing quietly the injustice of this world, and the ignorant libel of those with a worldly agenda. We have meant truly to be your people. And yet, dear Lord, now in this luminescent quiet, realize the fragility of our intent. It is not easy for us to walk out on this water. It is not easy for us to stay awake in this garden. It is not easy for us to stand out plainly and pay up personally. We have meant to love our neighbor. We have meant to love our enemy. Lord help us! Help us Lord we pray! Help us to follow through. Bless us O Lord, we ask: With the material of your grace With happiness With friends to understand With a church to absorb our extra pain With a love of learning With a hand stretched out to the stranger and traveler With tunes in the soul With a willingness to change With resolve not to fear overmuch what we cannot see With acceptance when we cannot change With forgiveness first of our own foibles With a faithful memory With the material of your grace Bless us we ask. We pray to Thee. Lift us by your Spirit, we ask. Help us to lay aside all that depresses us and angers others. Help us to lay aside all ill will, all cunning, all guile, all hypocrisy, all envy. Shut our mouths when we would speak ill of another. Raise us to new life. Help us to make camp around the fire of your love. Give us the desire of newborn babes for the milk of sincerity, the milk of your word, that we may grow thereby. Lord, days past have we tasted your kindness, but we forget and go hungry again. Feed us now we ask. Our hearts are tuned to the music of your church. Kindle our imaginations too. Show us escape routes, and underground railroads, and trojan horses, and discoveries of the Spirit, and new occasions for new duties, that our heads might be more than hat racks, and that with our minds we might love Thee. We thank you for the mothers of our church…and all those whose faithful mothering lives in our bodies and in our worship today. We pray for the mothers of the new age. In their activity may still there be peace. In their work, a sense of playful abandon. In their exhaustion, a reminder of eternity. In their anxiety over roles changed, rearranged, reversed, remade, may still they cling to love as the reason for life. We praise your holiness and love for those who have shared a maternal love with others’ children. Not only those who have children but also those who raise, teach and love children are dear to Thee. We pray for this nation as it struggles over another decade to settle the politics of the womb. We pray for those in the springtime of life who are taking a new step toward love. Thy life is within our souls but our selfishness has not helped you. Master us by your love we ask. This day we gather as baptized and believing Christian people, a people called Methodist, whose task it is to set forth a disciplined example of Christian service. About us we see neighbors in need. One is tripped up by her own self-concern Set her free! Another is the prisoner of old and empty dreams that need replacement Set him free! Another fears the future and dreads change Set her free! Someone is lonely and growing bitter in her loneliness Set her free! One cannot cut free from a web of frustrating relations Set him free! Another has forgotten the promise of eternal life and so puts all his hope in this world Set him free! Another does too much and will not rest Set her free! Lord let us soon sing a song of utter freedom to Thee ‘For our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee’. Eternal Spirit All our words are inadequate before Thee, empty unless Thou fillest them, misdirected unless they be caught up by Thee. Eternal Presence How odd it is that we so easily pass by the greatest gift of thy grace to us; we forget that you have made us and not we ourselves. That we are meant to be thy people, the sheep of thy pasture. Help us to wake each morning, be we young or old, rejoicing to be given the chance to praise thy name while we yet have breath. Eternal Love As we look about us this day, we praise the loyalty of men and women who have made sacrifices on behalf of thy kingdom. They have given up the freedom of solitude and joined together in marriage. Others have chosen to raise children in a Christian fashion, teaching them to live simply so that others may simply live. They have given hour after hour after hour in thy service in the community. All of them we pin with flowers and brush with kisses and praise this day, for in them we see some loyalty to the cross of Christ, which bids us dump out ourselves and drink deeply of others. Eternal Christ Help us to realize this day that now there are many sizes and shapes and kinds of families in this great land. Help us to remember the word of Jesus, how he rebuked those who would make the family a kind of God in itself, saying “You must leave Father and Mother.” Help us to remember that the unnoticed and unthanked and unmentioned and unremarked work of teaching children is what gives us the future. Amen. Almighty God our Heavenly Father Mysterious, Anonymous, Beyond All Thought We rest before Thee this day Stopping in this sanctuary for just a few moments We come here hoping to see friends. We come here expecting refreshment in familiar surroundings. We come here aware, vaguely, of our need of Thee. We come here in Christ’s name. Shake us free of disappointment without our own blunders. Stand by us to confirm our faith in you. Cripple our self-indulgence, we pray. Blind us to the blandishments of this world, we pray. Regard us with that mercy which we cannot earn yet can and do trust. We have faith in thy love. Give us confidence when faith falls short. Heavenly Father In this season of light and darkness, We bow our heads before Thee our maker, Our forgiver, our sustainer And we forget our own needs for this moment. Open us we pray to the cares of our brothers. Remind us in this season of celebration that all is not yet joy. Prepare us to handle the unexpected emotions And surprising encounters of the holidays. Free us to take a moment of this Advent to do something For someone who can give us nothing in return. We pray for families who have lost loved ones. We pray for new families Who are celebrating their first Christmas together. We pray for our young people that through all the tinsel They may yet catch a glimpse of thy pardoning love. Do we know Father that we need to be forgiven? Help us at least to know that we need forgiveness. We pray for men who stray From the Gospel that they once knew. Bring them back dear God. How great Thou art These days past, busy with ourselves Our homes, our health Our worries for loved ones Our uncertainty over the future Int his cluttered world Lawns to mow Weddings to plan Driveways to seal Funerals to attend Irregular verbs to parse Letters to write Gardens to weed Books to read We have been tied up lately with Our lives and our ways of love. Now it is Sunday and we stop to worship Thee. We read O Lord that by your word we are made clean. Speak to us now and cleanse us. We want to become better people And a better nation Than we are. We are eager to listen for your loving word, and to heed. We want to love our neighbor as ourselves. Send thy love to cleanse us, like rain and red ground. Clean us by your word. Dear God Although You are too great and wonderful for Our minds to comprehend Still we pray this and every night We invoke your blessing for this church And her many members and friends In the midst of uncertainty and worry We invoke your blessing To give us some certainty in the midst Of uncertainty And some assurance in the midst of worry We invoke your blessing In the midst of the careless days That somehow, divinely, We might be healed of our propensity To hurt and to forget. In the midst of greed and permissiveness We pray for a measure of discipline In the autumn of the year In the autumn of life Help us trust that there is splendor In loss, decay, and decline Help us to live splendid lives While the chill winds blow Make us colorful children Orange leaves in the November of time. We do invoke your blessing Lord. Lord My eyes have been too much this week resting on things that perish. My ears have been tuned to top forty tunes and not to the music of the spheres. My lips have bent toward frowns and not sent out smiling rays of love. My voice has scolded when it could have sung. My heart has wallowed in doubt and fear. My mind has drifted to cheap entertainments when I could have contemplated the good and the true and the lovely. I want to follow Jesus, but I need help. Take my hand. Cleanse my heart. Make me laugh with love for all to see. Dear God Thank you for everyone in this sanctuary, for their reverence and for their faith. We pray your blessing for us. We have learned, some soon and some later, that we need your Love in every hour. So we have come to your sanctuary to worship. We remember before you our beloved nation in its hour of planning and decision. Guide us toward a gentler and kinder culture. Deliver us from our neglect of the needy. Take our minds off what we can do and put them on what we ought to do. Give us the resolve to sacrifice for a better tomorrow. We ask your help for our church. Lord we have hopes for our life together. We hope to expand our ministry and to prepare for the future. We hope to help children, the elderly, families, singles, the poor a long way off. We need your Spirit to empower us. Are you running with us Lord? We thank you God for gracious people, humble and sensitive souls who make life fun. Maybe you can bring out the best in all of us this week. Dear God Our prayers go out For the brother in Christ who is feeling low Doubting his own worth and your own love Comfort him we pray For the sister in Christ who is sick Comfort her we pray For the brother who has lost his way Who has gone off to a far country and wasted himself Comfort him we pray For the sister who worries and cannot seem to stop Though she knows and trusts Thee Comfort her we pray For the brother who loses heart Who is easily discouraged because his hopes are so high Comfort him we pray For the sister who loses herself in running And running and endless hectic activity Comfort her we pray Heavenly Father In all our hope and in all our brokenness we stand naked before you Who knowest the inner workings of our minds and hearts. We give thanks that in the name of Jesus we have caught a glimpse of you, And that in the grace of Christ we have caught a glimpse of ourselves, As we should, might and can be. For blessed men and women, now dead Who have been directed toward Thee And who have been defined (named!) By that inward inclination We give thanks For Quakers who taught us to quake and tremble before the word of God. For Methodists who taught us that self-discipline is a mark of discipleship. For Baptists who told us, out right, to choose between good and evil. For Catholics who have kept to the One Church, In the hope that one day we will all be one again. These saints would not listen patiently to lies, to gossip, to hurtful words. They did not walk with evil. Nor did they take delight in scoffing: How easy it is to scoff! They grew and bore fruit like giant willow trees, Planted by streams of water. To know the difference between good and evil Helpful and harmful, what builds up and what tears down. This is our prayer. For in the good we are and become familiar with Thee, And the other, You are not familiar with the other. May thy grace be upon us! The gift of the cross of the Lord Jesus, In whose name we pray. Blessed Jesus at thy word We are gathered all to hear Thee. Let our hearts and souls be stirred Now to seek and love and fear Thee Thou alone to God canst win us Thou can work all good within us We would be grateful Lord As grateful as the young woman who receives her husband on the day of her marriage As grateful as the child receiving his parents’ affection As grateful as the whimsy and wisdom of old age Lord, we would be grateful We would be grateful too for what you call us to be and do We pray that our church will grow We pray that new people will find Through the witness of this congregation A foretaste of thy love. We pray that lives will be mended, souls surrendered, and spirits healed. We pray that our congregation will grow. We await in the darkness and anger of our time We await a quickening of thy spirit Lord, we need Thee every hour We await the time foretold by the prophet Joel When our young men will dream dreams And our old men will dream dreams When dreams will live When thy people will not fear Lord we pray that this church will grow Lord we pray to be made grateful We pray too for an endowment of dreams from on high In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Before You we are silent God We are not fit to utter your name, so Holy are you and so twisted we are In truth we cannot bear the weight of your Presence. To speak of You and to You surpasses our strength. We are not angels but men Men of flesh and bone and twisted tongues Our help is in your Name, Thou maker of heaven and earth, Tremendous, Awful, Mighty, Everlasting, Holy God In Christ we come together In Christ we hazard our prayer In Christ, in Him alone, we have confidence to pray as your children Lord, we beseech Thee, hear our prayer Hear our confession of sin. We are not ever who we seem, nor who we desire to be. We waste our best selves, our most precious hours, our talents, our money. Wasters all, we confess our sin. We make little room in our hearts for real outsiders. Ours are closed kitchens and dens. Saving ourselves we lose our souls. Loners all, we confess our sin. Daily we die a thousand fearful deaths, anticipating the worst, lacking the faith we profess. Doubters all, we confess our sin. Lord have mercy upon us. Christ have mercy upon us. Lord have mercy upon us. Thanks and praise to Thee for allowing us this cleansing! By love, yours, we are free to try again! Undeserved acceptance we receive even now! Thanks and Praise and Honor and Glory! In Christ we again feel free to taste another bittersweet day. For this we have come to worship. Dear God we thank you and praise you. In prayer we again come to faith. In faith we ask your intercession for those we see hurting and alone. For the young woman in the hospital. For the mother, impatient and tired, feeling unappreciated and inept. For the worker whose job is on the line. For those who are moving soon. For the widow near death. For struggling schools. For the teenager caught with cocaine. For the husband whose wife may be ill. For one who wonders if there is a purpose in a quiet, retired life. For the man who has faith but lacks assurance. For the ministers of the church. For all your church, human and frail. Intercede we pray. Thanks we give Confession we render. Adoration we utter. Lord hear our prayer. Eternal God Holy and Loving For what we have in common we give you thanks. For this fragile planet, our common home. For this great and troubled nation, our common project. For this community, our common business. For the chance together to speak and hear the truth, which moment by moment sets us free. For the simple grace of this common meal, our fellowship today. Eternal God Holy and Loving Now for what we have in common we give you thanks. Bless this food to our use, and us in thy service. (*Invocation for the Luncheon with Billy Graham, Dewitt Rotary, 4/24/89) I will give thanks with my whole heart, soul, mind, strength With everything that is in me Here in the congregation gathered to the people of God How great are thy works, dear Lord! Those who study thy creation: Biologists, Chemists, Physicists, Boy Scouts, Campfire Girls The elderly who take the time to stroll Take pleasure in thy works They remember and tell the wonder of thy creation A sign to us that Thou art gracious, merciful. Forever mindful of your Commitment, loyalty, abiding care For thy disturbed creatures. Teach us, teach us Compel us to grasp hold of the cross of Jesus There is your commitment, loyalty, abiding care Compel us to trust this Messiah Who knew the most hateful, the darkest things in life Who was raised up Who lives in the heart Even Jesus Christ Redemption! A commitment forever! The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Father Forgive us whatever we have done Knowingly or not, that hurts others Forgive us our haughtiness That makes us think that we can get along alone By ourselves, without others, and without Thee Forgive us unkind words spoken in haste: Remind us that to speak is good, to think is better Forgive our foolishness Our neglect of true love And the things that make for love Prepare us—whatever it takes— To partake of thy glory Remind us that though we tarry here awhile Still we are going home. For children Lord hear our prayer For hands that feed, for minds that teach For arms that embrace, for wise counsel, for careful guidance That our children might love these abundantly Lord hear our prayer For those of us gathered here That we might reach true adulthood as children of God Lord hear our prayer Church…excitement and hope…triumph…serene joy of Eastertide… Terror torn world…nation and state in a time of decision… Leaders…no judges in the land…wisdom of Solomon… Compassion, vision of a common good… Joy of spring, flowers and sun…Father we are hounded by cares beyond our control…these we lay before thee: The illness of a beloved partner A friend and wife suddenly hospitalized An unexpected success An engagement broken A project with little fruit A disagreement over something that really counts Discovery of a past deep hurt The return of a friend The courage to change one’s mind A period of emptiness A business loss Worries about a drug-ridden country Our fears we lay at your feet In praise of Thee we remember our joys! Our Heavenly Father The joys of springtime again make us joyful The simple pleasures of warmth and light and growth Your morning has broken upon us again, like the first morning In Eden’s garden, and so we praise You with elation! Our sin—our rapacity, our conceit, our slowness to sense the suffering of others—our sin deflates this spring of joy. Forgive our doubt. Forgive our ignorance. Restore us from death to Christ our Savior. Lord, Holy Spirit, our Life— Draw us again into the fray. Help us to do battle with the God of this world. Today we pray for college graduates. Give them we ask… The maturity, the patience, the perspective, the forbearance, the character. Give them personal maturity. Today we pray for those whose family lives are less than perfect— That is, all of us. Remind them Lord of The squabbles in Jesus’ family. The jealousy of James. The conflict with Mary. The sayings about hatred of brother and sister. Jesus knew family trouble. Help us to remember. Today we pray for our leaders. Help them in their votes to preserve peace But also to promote a kind of justice that will be a foundation for lasting peace. Father, in prayer today, we lift up the joy of spring, the darkness of sin, and the power of your Spirit. I am being driven forward Into an unknown land The pass grows steeper The air colder and sharper A wind from my known goal Stirs the strings of expectation Come let us adore Him. Our Father We listen in this hour for your words of challenge and help today Touch us in listening and waiting In worrying and helping Teach us to pray Help us as we rise each morning to meet the day And shower and shave and comb and press Also…to bathe ourselves in a moment of silence before Thee. Help us as we pause to be fed each morning—noon—night Also…to ask to be fed by grace Help us, when night has fallen, and we cover ourselves in the warmth and comfort of bed clothes Also…to cover ourselves in a simple remembrance of thy love Teach us that weeping may tarry for the night But joy comes with the morning Teach us that we too can sing some songs in the night Eternal, Mysterious, Holy God In these moments of quiet and in this place of sanctuary We praise you Our bodies praise you Standing, bowing, kneeling, still Our voices praise you In song and word Our minds praise you In thought and questioning Our spirits praise you because we gather together Laying our relationships before you We confess our sin We have spoken ill of our neighbor We have misused our freedom We have doubted in unfaithful ways We have kept silence from cowardice We have tuned out the cries of the truly needy We have settled for slipshod judgments We have been overgrown by the cares of this world Forgive us we pray Gird us up we pray Ennoble our minds and set us on paths of truth and peace Lift us up we pray Inspire our hearts for a time that we might learn again the joy of giving Hold us up we pray To be authentic witnesses that others can trust and understand Hold us together we pray Give us keen feeling for the hurt of another Eager longing to help another Wise judgment to avoid harming another This day, this week, this season. Heavenly Father This Easter morning As we stand illumined and warmed by the resurrection light We pray thy blessing upon thy people Bless us with a desire to walk always with thee Hand in hand, day by day Bless us with an unquenchable outrage at the injustice in this world Empower us to find strong, honest ways of helping to alleviate that injustice In our roles as citizens, family members, disciples of Jesus Christ Bless us with the courage to give away what we do not need And to seed the connection between our prosperity and another’s degradation Bless us with a single purpose in life: to love Thee So that our many little loyalties do not crowd out our one great loyalty To the truth that alone sets us free In Christ’s name we pray, saying… Heavenly Father We confess our sin before Thee We confess our misuse of privilege and possessions and positions We have used what we should love and We have loved what we should use We have used people We have loved machines We have neglected thy Word for us as it is found in the Bible We have not pursued peace with all our might Forgive us we pray Through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen For our neighbor in need For our future For our church For peace in our time For grateful hearts For a willingness to risk For cleansing Give us the lessons of salvation To begin to float in faith To test intermediate strokes To achieve the rank of swimmer To be life savers of and for others Dear God With praise for your power With thanks for your love With reverence before the mysterious grace In which we are held We kneel before Thee Fall upon our disordered lives we pray Banish our tolerance of injustice Banish our tolerance of indifference Banish our undisciplined anxiety Banish our fear Banish our sin We confess that we have been foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless Forgive us we pray Raise us again to a disciplined life We remember before Thee the stark and horrible defects of this life Innocent victims Helpless neighbors Accidents The savage effects of illness, war and loneliness Heal and restore, according to your will Heavenly Father Whatever is true Whatever is honorable Whatever is just Whatever is pure Whatever is lovely Whatever is gracious Whatever is excellent Whatever is praiseworthy Whatever is peace-worthy Center our minds on these things So, we might know thy peace Renew us dear God in the Spirit of our minds Almighty God Lord of life and death Free us we pray from the things we wrongly fear Free us from superstition Free us from an unfaithful dread of death Free us from worry over the past We know that we cannot free ourselves Thou must save and Thou alone Make us courageous people we pray Free us from every destructive impulse Free us from greed and sloth Free us from envying our brother Free us from overindulging Free us from fear of the future Free us to serve Thee In Jesus name Amen I invite you to seek the truth In our speaking and listening this morning We gather together to give thanks To hear the Word of God To remember that in this life we live before God God is Spirit They that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth Dear God Before your watchful gaze we stop today Within earshot of your attentive care we bow down to worship Adorned in youth Adorned in maturity Adorned with knowledge Adorned with faith Adorned with wealth Adorned with struggle Adorned with piety Adorned with effort Adorned with commitment Before you we bow down today We are naked before you Forgive us we pray Will your spirit stop our mouths, quicken our minds, tickle our eardrums? Will we wonder, cry, pray, hope, doubt, worry, attentive to your Spirit this week? Help us listen for you we pray To listen for You as we reckon with bitter and sweet memories To listen for you as we look backward upon wrong choices To listen as we ponder tests yet to come To listen as we await the end of our days To listen as we risk and work for a new and better tomorrow Will we listen this week? Everlasting and Gracious God our Father We praise thy name this day We sing thanksgiving for many blessings We shout for joy at the remembrance of Thee We jump and dance and celebrate thy goodness Lord, help the struggling hearts here present Lord, free us from fear of the future Lord, when Satan afflicts us and we are hurt Save us from bitterness Lord, keep us from the Evil One Keep our children safe, safe as can be Lord we stand in dire need of Thee every hour But in thy light and love we begin to see Lord grace those who are changing their lives So that the changes will be good ones Lord care for our wills so that we may learn To be hard where we should be hard And soft where we should be soft And not the other way around Give us insight to see the frailty and the worth of thy church And to give our hearts, souls, minds and strengths to its upbuilding Help us to get up and try again Through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Almighty God Hidden from us. Merciful to us. Judge over us. Give us grace, we ask, to attend upon the voice of truth which calls to us We hear of the deaths of 1,000,000 Arabs in Persia this past year: it is more than rumor of war. We pause and are frightened. Call us again to faith, to service, to strive for peace. We hear of misjudgment and bad faith and pride in high places. But what one of us practices no cover up? Call us again to an ability to admit that we are more human than anything else Call us first to appreciate the good and then only to judge the bad in others We hear from the words of Scripture of a promise of heaven and a threat of hell In our dreams, in the late-night hours, in the loneliness that the cage of our life can cause, we overhear the rumbling sentences of they love And if we are honest and alert, then we are afraid Call us to thyself, that where Thou art, we might be also Father Today we pray, urgently, for deliverance from evil About us rancor abounds This season of holidays And of lights Surprises us with Unexpected emotions One is anger Another is vengeance A third is hatred Another is remorse Amid the turkey and the dressing Tinsel and holly There is seething rancor Deliver us from the evil of family life We pray Gracious God Holy, Loving, source of light and truth, goodness and beauty, honor and justice We bow this day to lift our hearts in praise and thanksgiving At this time we offer thanks for the excitement of discovery and the courage of explorers For those who have charted new lands For those who have found cures For those who have produced awesome new energies For those who have had the courage to think with minds transformed by grace For all in whose work we have glimpsed again thine image, we sing thy praise O Lord we lament too that amid exploration and discovery we have made idols of our own works We have gloried in our own power to make and to destroy We have celebrated our own hazy goodness We have mistaken creature and creation for Creator We have been too impressed by human progress and to little impressed by divine judgment O Lord we earnestly pray, deliver us from the evil we have forged in our time, with our hands, in our power, by our own hazy goodness From the threat of thermonuclear holocaust Form the threat of technological imprisonment From the threat of environmental collapse From the threat of comfort induced amnesia And turn us again, repentant, back upon the pure light of thy mercy Heavenly Father Hear our prayer for those in need today For the hungry and the war torn For those facing difficult choices For families grieving in the hour of death For newlyweds now walking a new path For travelers For the ill Heavenly Father! This is a rich land we inhabit Its skies are filled with the birds of the air Its waters teem with fish Its forests and fields bring forth abundance and shelter much life If in our praying we could make it so We would want to become ourselves --To thy glory— As rich as this land Rich in self-giving Rich in fullness of faith Rich in joy Rich in a capacity for wonder Heavenly Father Turn us toward Thee in this hour Heavenly Father! Come and rule in our hearts this day! We come here to worship Thee and to wonder what Thou would have us Do Think Say Be We gather Some with burning questions Some with painful choices before us Some with illness close at hand Some captured by fear: Fear of death Fear of life Fear of not making it Fear brought on by boredom and loneliness Set us free to serve Thee, and to have done with lesser things! Great unknown of suffering Make us sensitive, not to trample Only one art, telling the truth Imaginative Give us strength to give up what must be given up before we may ‘come home’ May thy love be shed abroad in our hearts for all the world to see But for the grace of God We would not be But for the grace of God We could not love But for the grace of God We should not speak But by thy grace We live and love and speak By this grace we are saved Alleluia O Lord Our Lord How majestic is thy name in all the earth! Open our ears to hear your voice In the rush of great waters We overhear your call In the clash of thunder We overhear your justice In the bustle of the city We overhear your voice In the quiet of the evening We overhear your mercy O Lord Quicken our devotion to Christ! Enliven our attention to Thee! Embolden our service to others! Gracious God our Heavenly Father By whose providential will The nations of the earth are guided Today we thank Thee for blessings Past, and present and future How blest we have been in days past With wise and careful leaders Who, like Joseph in Egypt, Have kept us from famine and distress How blest we are today With leaders who help us to struggle Like Jacob on the river Jabbok To meet human need and divine command How greatly we implore thy blessing For days to come! Give us leaders who Like Jeremiah Challenge us to commit ourselves To the common good Guide our peoples we pray With malice toward none That with charity for all With firmness in the right As Thou dost give us to see the right We may pursue the cause of liberty Ever prizing that freedom For which Christ has set us free Eternal Spirit Rest we pray upon the souls here gathered Our birth and our growth, our decay and our death Lie beneath the gusts of your movement We are aware of our ultimate and absolute dependence Hear our prayer for the penultimate needs of the world Some there are who struggle to breath the very breath of life Quicken them we pray Some there are who gasp to take in the oxygen of liberty Suffocating as they are in broken relationship, in imprisonment, in slavery, in exile Some there are who lack even a touch of the Spirit of eternity Who are material agents, in a material world Make us all rather agents of your love and destiny Some there are who choke on the misdeeds of others Grant them recovery we pray Hear our prayers for the penultimate needs of this life: May we live as if surrounded by buoyed by swept along by Your Spirit In Christ’s name Father We are thankful today For the inspiration we feel here Here we are reminded of our faithful fathers and mothers Here we recall the days of our youth When with keener minds and purer hearts we sang thy praise Here we get recharged by sharing the hand And feeling the closeness of our brothers in Christ Here we see the cross Father We open our hearts to Thee One comes to worship In physical discomfort and the torment of the flesh Another comes to worship Tired from a week of much motion and little progress Another comes wondering If Thou art with us at all Another comes With a difficult decision looming Another comes frightened For he has seen, spoken and done evil Another comes needing To make a decision for Christ Pour out thy spirit upon us! Forgive us and makes us know we are forgiven And help us to forgive others. Amen Heavenly Father Who can stand in your presence? Which one of us is fit for your everlasting love? In the searching, searing light of your Care we dare to present ourselves this morning How shall we deny your illumination of the darkened rooms in our sould? We are dependent upon your forgiveness, love, guidance, help Without you we are helpless, like sheep without a shepherd Tend to our waywardness we pray Today we pray for those of your flock in this land who are graduating from school, from college, from one living to another. In their hearts and hands lie some of the destiny of this world. In their hour of triumph give them the sources of future love. Give them gratitude. Give them compunction. Make them grateful to have been spared the physical misery of hunger, of war, of homelessness, of the crushing effects of poverty. Make them aware, too, we pray, of the contribution which each personal selfishness makes to the ongoing horror of this world. May they have the courage as well as the intellect, the moral accountability as well as the bank accounts, a desire to please God as well as a desire to please parent, spouse, and self. We pray for another generation of graduates, in cap and gown, pushed forward on the relentless wave of time, into an earthly tomorrow, but toward a heavenly home. And may the love in this congregation also catch fire from the smoldering gratitude and compunction left for us in the cross of Christ. Dear Lord Accept our offering, of praise and thanksgiving, this day We gather as a congregation of thy people In our weakness, and in our strength, we pause before Thee Father, you have cursed our blindness and we have not seen You have decried our passivity and pacifism and we have not struggled You have judged our deafness and still we do not hear Give us grace to turn around and stop our pollution Make us graceful to watch for thy love Lord hear our prayer Make us graceful to fight for thy love Lord hear our prayer Make us graceful to pray for thy love Lord hear our prayer For without Thee we are fouler than anything And worse than nothing Save us from our sin we pray Heavenly Father Gracious God Our creator, our redeemer, our preserver May we draw nearer to Thee This evening In our thoughts In our speaking In our listening May we see Thee in things that please and refresh us May we hear Thee behind and beyond things that perplex us May we draw nearer to Thee This evening With thanks for Nourishment Fellowship Relaxation We pray thy blessing our time together Forgives us all our sins, for Christ’s sake Amen Heavenly Father What thanks we give Thee for the gift of another day The chance to live faithfully, to be thy children And to purge ourselves of impatience, of jealousy, and doubt And what anger we still harbor against our neighbor and against Thee We struggle with the lower nature We ask for willpower to cast off the tempting advice of the flesh We have begun with the spirit, we would not end with the flesh We look for peace of mind, Lord And sometimes we don’t find it Past tragedy haunts us like a ghost Help us to know that the past is forgiven! We look for peace in our heart of hearts Grant us such peace We pray that the fragile peace of this world will be maintained Before Thee we remember the trouble in the South Atlantic And the Middle East and behind the Iron Curtain Give us strong, wise, compassionate and humble leaders Who will keep a just and lasting peace We pray four our brothers and sisters in Quebec, French and English That they might find a fair compromise With all the saints alive and dead, and in heaven and on earth We pray in thy name O Lord Amen Father! We have called out to You We have watched our children grow and become adults We have worried and hoped and cried and laughed Over what they did and did not do We have been angry Still we are puzzled by some things Still we are not sure of some things Still we worry about our children Your love has dawned in our hearts We see a little better in the light of the cross The light of Jesus Raised shining out from the dark cross We see a little better We want our children to be happy But more we want them to know Thee To know thy care To know thy demand for resolute living Thy demand for obedience We want them to have a calling in life We want them to have direction To have work And to follow their fellow men and Thee Pull us free from our vices Even the ones we most enjoy! Mostly we would pass on to our young what we believe We know whom we can trust Father! Psalm 100 Eternal God Shrouded in Mercy We invoke your blessing this evening Before you we lay our common project, the work of this Boy Scout Council We pray for guidance for its leaders, your care for its supporters, your providence for its future Father especially we pray for our young men Give them brave hearts for the hard choices ahead Give them reverent hearts so that as they grow in stature they may also grow in the knowledge and love of Thee Tonight, we are anxious for the well-being of our nation and our countrymen We pray for our leaders Give them the wisdom and patience that these difficult days require O Lord as we break bread together May our fellowship and our conversation be acceptable in thy sight O Thou who are our rock and our redeemer Amen (Syracuse, Carrier Dome, Boy Power Dinner, 4/15/86, Howard Cosell, speaker) Lord Speak to us we pray Speak in a voice clear and strong To remind us through our willful deafness Of thy love, thy will, thy judgment Speak in somber tones To brace us against all that makes life cheap and shallow and hateful Speak in winsome soft sounds To bear us up when we are weak Speak in silence Speak thy peace Speak to us of thy salvation Speak in shouts and a cry of command To call us to obedience and belief Lord! Speak to us we pray! Through Christ our Lord Amen Good morning In this hour we are asked To think about the will of God In this hour we are invited To remember God’s care for his creation In this hour we are lifted up By the power of the spirit of God in our midst! Heavenly Father We remember the crucifixion of thy anointed One And we gladly gather celebrating his resurrection Praying that: This raising of Jesus will truly mean for us Forgiveness of what is past Even that we might forgive ourselves And so, lighten our daily burden Praying that: This raising of Jesus will truly mean for us Acceptance of what is present For we fear the anxious spirit That forever belittles what is present In favor of what has bone by or what is to come Help us to accept what the present has to offer us Praying that: This raising of Jesus will truly mean for us That the future is open, thine Made in the image of thy Son Beyond death Thou art guiding us In this life Thou art guiding us May Jesus’ resurrection mean for us A forgiven past An accepted present An open future In Christ’s name Amen This is a time of meditation It is a time to measure the past To recall past goodness It is a time to ponder the future To estimate the distance and the drama ahead It is an hour and a moment of refreshment The light shines in the darkness For I am sure that neither life, nor death Nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present Nor things to come Nor powers, nor height Nor depth, nor anything else in all creation Will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38) This is a time of meditation For the need of our world That it may be filled by thy grace And by human obedience Lord hear our prayer For peace Lord hear our prayer For patience among rich and poor Lord hear our prayer For wisdom Lord hear our prayer For giving Lord hear our prayer For healing: body, mind, spirit Lord hear our prayer For courage Lord hear our prayer For prosperity Lord hear our prayer For fellow feeling and community love Lord hear our prayer For young learning Lord hear our prayer For the lonely Lord hear our prayer Heavenly Father We wait upon Thee in this hour Seeing ourselves And our world in a new light A Christmas light, a light of different force and direction One that measures us against the birth Of a poor child in a dark cave in a foreign land We pray for what we need Yet knowing that Thou knowest our every thought Even before it is formed on our lips into words Give us the vision of Joseph Who, by the help of an angel, Saw more than mere betrayal and shame in Mary’s condition But in it sensed thy will And so did not fear to take a wife, already pregnant Did not fear But trusted in thy presence and purpose We lack a vision of how to live together on this earth In trust and not fear Help us to see beyond the balance of power Beyond the glorification of achievement Beyond the wisdom of men and nations Which is pure folly To a vision of life together On earth as it is already in heaven We need the vision of Joseph Give us the constancy of Mary Who knew Thee not in the sphere of success But upon the field of failure and low estate Who bore Thee, in the foulness of a manger And there saw the exaltation of the poor, those of low degree Mary had the power to see things through This we lack For we want immediate, visible, tangible proof Of thy ways and purpose And immediate return on our investment in Thee (So we say) We haven’t the patience to be with Thee in the manger Remind us that haste is always of the devil And put some steel in our spines And give us the patience and long-suffering of the mother of God We need the constancy of Mary We need again to hope in Jesus For we have wandered off, hoping in so many othe things Placing our trust, like gamblers on a roulette wheel On things that do not pay off Confiding in the ruler of this world The prince of darkness Who proffers us comfort but not security Who tempts us to exchange Our greatest hopes and dreams for poverty of spirit We need again to hope in Jesus, and not in our own prowess This Christmas We ask for vision, constancy, and hope Amen O Lord, Our Lord How majestic is thy name, in all the earth Hear our prayers as we lay them before Thee For in our hands no price we bring; simply to the cross we cling For order and purpose in a world of turmoil The cacophonous chaos of our days Lord, hear our prayer For moments to rest To lie down angry and tired and disheartened But to rise up again walking with Thee Lord, hear our prayer For protection when others act like wolves and we feel sheepish And for restraint when history makes us into wolves and we are hungry Lord, hear our prayer For the courage to face (and trust) what most frightens us Be it new life, death at hand, our work, even Thee Lord, hear our prayer For the grace to forgive ourselves, following your example Lord, hear our prayer For the gift of mirth that keeps us sober Lord, hear our prayer O God We thank you for Christmas Time And for all that it means to us We thank You that when Jesus came into this world, he came into a humble home We thank you that he had to grow up and to learn like any other boy We thank You that he did a good day’s work as a carpenter in a village shop in Nazareth We thank you that he was tempted and tired, and hungry and sad, just as we are We thank You that he was one with us in all things, sharing our life with its struggles and toils, its sorrows and joys We thank you for the service of his life, the love in his death, and the power of his resurrection Grant O God that when he comes to us he may find room in our hearts for him For your love’s sake Amen In hours of quiet In wintertime We turn again upon you Almighty and Everlasting spirit of forgiveness In hours of quiet We remember what we need In quiet hours, we await deliverance at hand Change our gloom to gaiety! Shame us for our listless boredom and excite us about life and love! Break the shackles of fear (why do we fear such little things?) And set us free to hope again In hours of quiet In the winter While nature pauses and kneels to pray and remember Thee While the field lies fallow While the river lies quiet in ice While the air hangs cold and crystal and clean with winter While all nature pauses to pray May we too have courage To listen To lie fallow To lie quiet in ice To hear Thee Restore us! Fit us again for spiritual combat! Place us again on the battle line! Draft us into the army of forgiveness! Dear Sister God You held me at my birth You sang my name, were glad to see my face You are my sky, my shining sun And in your love, there is always room To be and grow yet find a home A settled place O Lord Our Lord How majestic is thy name in all the earth The splendor of your creation resounds all about this day Teeming color, raucous sound, thrills of taste and touch The glory of this new day How majestic is thy name O Lord Before you we lay the burden of the past week Before your gaze we unpack the satchel of our days past This week: its achievements, its sacrifices, its humor, its deadness, its worry, its work, its height and breadth and depth We lay it all before You It is our hope to be in love with our brother and our neighbor We sit here today hoping that within these walls and Among these souls we will find our salvation Teach us to live for one another we pray We have neglected thy word and ordinances and now in this season we turn again to you Jesus Christ has claimed us as his own We are trying to live with that truth Defend us we pray Our heavenly Father How happy we are to be in your presence this holy day This place is a sanctuary for us These brothers and sisters in the faith are our real family This time of quiet and thought, confession and pardon Helps us with our life before Thee It is good to be here Our hearts are full today This world is very much with us Concern for captors and captives around the globe Concern for the leaders of nations Concern for the great city of Syracuse in this election time Concern for our University, its Chapel, and the gospel ministry it is meant to promote Concern for those who once were two and now are one Who walk alone, that is, alone with you Concern for those who mourn Those whom you promise to comfort Concern for the lost and troubled in our neighborhood Concern for the young woman somewhere nearby who has left her newborn on the doorstep of our parish Concern for those who like Lot’s wife cannot resist the temptation to dwell upon the past Concern for these days of September and our calling in this time Our hearts are full today Many are our concerns Are they Your concerns as well? Luke 10:25-37 Heavenly Father! How thankful are we for life and breath and sense to speak of Thee We have no ability for Christian life, except what Thou givest us when through thy spirit Thou touchest us We gather here and now to be reminded that In the hardest spots we are asked to witness to Christ When we are angry—and have good cause to be May we live Christ When we are tired—and rest seems a ways off May we live Christ When the body hungers—after what does not nourish May we live Christ When we are green with envy—and there is no help for it May we live Christ When our buttons pop with pride—and we are justly proud May we live Christ When the joys and comforts of this world consume us May we live Christ We gather to be reminded that our neighbors lie bleeding on the roadside, and we can help Heavenly Father! Help us to live as Christians this week God of peace Grant us peace as thy power for honest love We have isolated ourselves from that peace In hour of rancor and days of worry and nights of foreboding We have closed our ears to thy command of peace Still: Thou are our refuge and our strength Our fortitude and our hiding place Our reason for rising in the morning The closing off of the blackness of the past The cleansing of our warlike ways Grant us peace we pray Peace in our hearts as we start another day Peace for sharing with those we meet Peace in our work Peace down deep to help us take on Tough tasks, anxious people, uncertain hours Peace through the time of sickness and of trial God of peace: grant us thy peace as a power for honest love Heavenly Father Our hearts sing to Thee this day Amid all the craziness of our earthly days In the midst of walls to paint and cars to repair And dishes to do and children to raise And parents to care for and trips to take And meetings to attend and diaper to change And medicine to give and medicine to take And taxes to pay and promises to keep In the midst of our broken, hectic, lonely and confusing days Our hearts sing to Thee O Lord how majestic is thy name in all the earth We pray that the crisis of our times Will usher in a time of peace for our children A time of patience and forgiveness A time of cooperation A time of forbearance and self-control A time when a man will lay down his life for his friends A time of peace Eternal God Give us pause we pray at the utterance of thy name! O Thou who art as close as our next breath And yet as far from us As the morning and the evening stars To Thee we raise our voices and lift our hearts Before Thee we lay down our burdens of guilt and hate and fear and distrust And they are heavy burdens Will you teach us again to take upon yourselves the yoke which is easy and the burden which is light? Will you make of us a joyful people? Will you make of us a happy people? Will you make of us a prayerful people? We pray for those of our company who struggle with the darkness of life For one the path ahead has become impassable and another road must be sought Teach us thy presence For another the solitary journey becomes less like solitude and more like loneliness Teach us thy presence For another the frightful acrimony of family conflict overwhelms and destroys Teach us thy peace For another the need to succeed at any price warps mind and heart Teach us thy peace For another the weakness of the flesh, its frailty, its decay, its tyranny produces madness Teach us thy patience For another the shadows along the valley of death lengthen Teach us thy patience Amen Father Help us to confess our awkwardness, waywardness, selfishness, and sin before Thee While the word of the world is therapy, let our word be forgiveness While the word of the world is analysis, let our word be pardon Help us to confess our sin Help us to face our past Wash us today we pray Send over us the rush of mighty waters Send over us the cold pure water of thy love Send over us the dew and moisture of thy lavish grace That we might confess That we might have the courage to confess That we might have the courage and insight to confess our sin Prepare us to meet the truth of thy word in all its rigor, harshness, wonder and power Prepare us for thy presence we pray We confess our sin Through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Father We pray Be with the sick, the tired, the lost, the crippled Be with the hungry and the homeless Be with the spenders and the spent Be with the troubled and those of restless heart Give them the courage again to take up their struggle refreshed Be with the healthy That they might know of and pity and relieve the ick Be with the strong That they might offer their strength to the weak Be with the well fed That they might share their bounty with the undernourished Be with those of our church and community Now hospitalized, shut in, cut off from the natural flow of life Be especially with those persons Whom we each name in our hearts As needy of your presence and peace In Christ’s name we pray Most Gracious Heavenly Father Who has safely brought us to the beginning of this day Defend us this day by thy power Grant that we fall into no sin, nor run into any danger And that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance To do always that which is acceptable in thy sight Through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Heavenly Father! Thou hast caused us to hear the good news of saving grace Brought to us on the cross and by the empty tomb And we stand in awe and perplexity, and wonder and disbelief Before a love that shatters even the barrier of death How can these things be and how can we be worthy of them? We have sinned We have thought ourselves to be the center of the universe We have scoffed at our utter need of Thee We have treated our neighbor and even our loved ones with callousness We are unfit for heaven and we are making the earth unfit as well Heavenly Father!! What wondrous love is this that speaks to us from the cross? Grant us grace to live in an abiding memory of they care So we will be ever ready to care for those about us Make us mindful we pray of those who suffer Those who are physically ill Those who are mentally tormented Those who are hopelessly poor Those who have lost loved ones Those who are caught in the guilt of sin Make us mindful of their suffering So that we may take from them the bitterest sting of suffering The fear that it will have to be endured in loneliness Lord, suffering we can bear, if we are part of a fellowship of fellow sufferers It is suffering in loneliness that becomes unbearable Give us grace to take away the sting of suffering from those who suffer In these brilliant autumn days We stand aghast before the wonder of thy creation And murmur once again, ‘How Great Thou Art’ May that greatness keep us humble Through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Heavenly Father We give thanks for this meal For the strength it gives our bodies Teach us always to remember with thanksgiving Our dependence upon nature, on our fellow humans and on Thee So, we pray in the name of Jesus of Nazareth Whose courage and compassion are our unfailing inspiration Maundy Thursday O Lord Amid the changes of this season and of our common life we bow before Thee We believe that heaven and earth are full of your glory Yet our prayers are not frequent or spirited or confident, always, As they should be Is it our pride of heart? Is it our poverty of imagination? Is it our neglect of discipline? Is it our concern for the treasures of this world? Lord, teach us to pray as the Apostle would have us do To pray without ceasing On this evening when we recall betrayal and suffering Lord teach us we ask a lively sympathy for others Tonight we pray for those of our number, part of our communion, who are laden with burdens of the flesh We pray for Robert, Stella, Rhoda, Harriet, Ida, Florence, Julia, Lena, Beulah, Ernestine, Marion, Gerald, Lewis, Lenore, Ken, Emma, Gladys, Louise, Ruth, Vera, Laura, and so many others whom we name in our hearts… Already we trust art Thou present to bring peace Though not as the world gives In prayer and through sympathy teach us obedience we pray Through Christ our Lord Amen Father Inspire in us again the desire to live only for Thee To strive only for thy kingdom To worry only over the things that matter to Thee To forget our foolish and selfish ways To love Thee and our neighbor and to love Thee by loving our neighbor Father Free us from fears that our job is not important enough Our country not pure enough Remind us that any work is great when greatly pursued That any home is rich enough and surpassing Where love and joy and peace are found That true religion is simple and simply of the heart And in heartfelt service to others And that a country is and can stand only as it collectively seeks thy will Father Put our minds on the future Help us to think of heaven and of heaven on earth Give us great-hearted people in our land who are willing to dream Of a time when selfishness and greed and hunger and need have disappeared And that the earth may be full of the glory of heaven As the waters cover the sea Put our minds on the other future too Force us to have sure hope of heaven Help us to live each moment In the conviction that we are to dwell in the resurrection with Thee Help us to think of being raised from the dead Help us to believe in Jesus Christ who is the resurrection and the life Father Into thy hands we commit the care of our loved ones who are ill Heal them! Comfort them! Give them faith and courage! Spare them unnecessary suffering! Father Forgive us our sins Through Jesus Christ our Lord By whom and with whom in the unity of the Holy Spirit all glory and honor be unto Thee Amen Father We are cut off from our neighbors From our own best selves and from Thee We walk alone We ache to have someone truly know us, enjoy us And as we are cut off Then a lot of what we say and do is distorted We say what we do not mean We do what we know is hurtful Our anger spills over And we disgrace ourselves and harm our friends We feel alone And so, we despair We feel alone And so, we become aggressive We feel alone And so, we forget what it is to be happy We feel alone And so, we want to control and intimidate others Gracious God! Heal us we pray! Heavenly Father With the sounds of this past week Still ringing in our ears We pause before Thee With the dust of the week still clinging to our feet We pause before Thee With the memory of this past week Still fresh in our mind We pause before Thee Lord, hear our prayer All that has been between this sabbath and the last We offer to You The discoveries The taste of new food The handshake of a new friend The losses: of neighbors familiar and unfamiliar The surprises: the startling return of an old acquaintance The unexpected news of victory or defeat The births and beginnings and baptisms The decisions and delays and deaths All that has been We give to you We lay before you We offer to you O Eternal, Holy Spirit Lord who restores us In you we do not long for the wrong things For you mock us when we do You force us to stop and rest When we would rather lay ourselves waste with striving You take us by the hand alongside still waters There we see our own reflection in the pool We lean over the lake And peer at our own image My! What as sight Lord who restores us You do not desert us, nor do you leave us To be devoured by our own presence, alone You drag us along Prodding us to live worthy lives For your name’s sake Lord who restores us We trust you in dark corners Not because we feel confident Heaven know how we fear and fear and fear Nor because we deserve your comfort We are undeserving—much as this appalls us We trust only because we take you ‘at your word’ Lord who restores us We scent the aroma of a great banquet Prepared for those who hunger and wait And we are quieted And we are quieted And we are quieted And we are touched And we are…restored Christ is risen! He is risen indeed Surely goodness and mercy Shall follow us all the days of our common life And we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever Living God Our: Father, Guide, Judge, King, Maker, Hope, Eternal Rest We give Thee thanks that thou hast placed this world under attack That Thou hast invaded it in the person of thy Son Our Lord Jesus Christ To Whom we turn in our hour of prayer and praise Awaiting news of his kingdom What news have you for us Lord? What news of thy kingdom? What is the report? Where and how shall we await the coming of thy kingdom? Where and how can we be of service to Thee? Teach us Lord, for we are unworthy servants To one thing constant never: Undisciplined, uninspired, ungrateful, unkempt, unhappy, undecided Where and how shall we serve thy kingdom as Thou putest our world under attack? Help us to put away all shameful acts Lord help us to trust you When we face the unkown that always frightens us When we recall with regret a time gone by When we are tired When we are tempted to put a lesser loyalty before our faith Lord help us to look to you and not just at other men, princes though they be We look about us with concern And see many of our brothers and sisters who are out of work And who live with the great sorrows that unemployment brings And yet there seems so little that we can do We pray for enough prosperity so that even the poorest Will have shelter and food and clothing and heat And some hope for the future Some of our young people have gone on to college And to the military and to work away from home Now we are missing them and praying that they will do us proud And that they will find ways to serve Thee with gladness Instill in us thy spirit we pray Fill us with love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control Amen Almighty and Everlasting God Our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer Who by thy love has made us and through thy love has kept us And in thy love would make us perfect Lord, we find it troubling and hard to be grateful Our waywardness and our pride forever obscure and confuse our place before Thee We find it hard to be truly grateful For to do so we must give up many of our claims to fame No longer can we say, ‘Look what I have done’ No longer dare we mutter, ‘Lord you could have done better’ No longer can we boast, ‘See what I have accomplished’ No longer can we cheer, ‘This we have done well’ We find it truly hard to be grateful For to do so we must remind ourselves that we are creatures Sheep in another’s pasture, dependent on Thee in life and death We have what Thou givest We are what Thou makest We do what Thou woul permit Hard as it is for us to remember, we are thy people and the sheep of thy pasture Thy life is within our souls but our selfishness hath hindered Thee Gracious God Give us words and thoughts with which to offer Thee thanks For the abundance of gifts of creation Which the harvest shows us, we thank Thee, Lord Much if not all has been safely gathered in Almost before the winter storms began You do provide for our wants to be supplied For harvest of grain and corn and for produce of milk For harvest in the great manufacture of our blessed land Rich in things if not always so in soul For harvest of financial security for those who enjoy it And with earnest prayers that the many who do not will soon be safe from want We give Thee highest thanks and praise and raise a joyful song of harvest home Heavenly Father This harvest before our eyes recalls yet another harvest We sense about us a hidden harvest of the spirit Which this hidden harvest bears We thank Thee Lord For loving communities that care for their young and old and sick For joyful men who preserve the frolic of youth into adulthood For men and women of peace Who warn us of the consequences of fear and isolation For patient teachers For kind employers For good parents For faithful churchmen For gentle, gentle husbands and wives who show us how to be gentlemen and women For those who exercise self-control For this great hidden harvest of fruit of the spirit We give Thee thanks and praise, and raise the song of harvest home Even so Lord quickly come Raise the final harvest home Lord of harvest grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be We are draw up short Lay before Thee Aloneness Dismay at the waste in human lives, our guilt that we don’t do more with what we have Prayers of intercession Drawn to Thee still Turn us inside out Service—that letter, call, book Our trust in Thee Lord, we tarry here a while but we are going home In this hour we stand before a God Who has lifted up many generations and Has seen them pass away We come before a God Whose love has already seized The generations to come We give thanks for our place in The march of generations So, let the sea roar, and all that fills it The world and those who dwell therein Let the floods clap their hands Let the hills sing for joy together Before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth He will judge the world with righteousness and peoples with equity (Ps 98) Give us grace Dear Lord To allow those about us to be free Have we conquered this land Only to forget That For freedom Christ has set us free? Some about Allow us freedom How great they are! Some of our neighbors will permit us to boe What we will be Without trying to Control us For freedom Christ has set us free Let us not then return to slavery Keep us from enslaving others Let us live and let live Free to be as Thou would lead us Gracious God Our Maker Holy Lord Our Helper amid troubles O Thou Mystery, Hidden Power of Pardon Together we pray for those thy children who are in need For the elderly in Bosnia who have seen the work of a lifetime Destroyed in months And have watched the whole world look past their pain For children in America today For all who have seen evil and done wrong For saints who grieve without complaint, lonely, hungering for one now gone For young people disappointed For ministers of your gospel For one struggling to face the past and the future in faith For new ventures begun in hope For hatchets buried, corners turned, dust shaken, leaves overturned For our church Its people, its ministry, its second mile giving, its worship life For our friends We pray Amen Heavenly Father We cling to Thee in this hour Help us we pray to lay ourselves before Thee To know our lives in thy sight To see our lives The shortness of our lives To remember that our times is the space of a few handbreadths To remember our lives as thy gift to us To hope that in our time we may come to a relationship With Thee through thy Son Jesus Christ Help us to remember that the gift Thou hast given us includes a task as well That we are here not without purpose, not without work, not without a reason for being Rather that we are called to obedience Here we need help We miss the narrow way We need to be led back When we are on the way we find it difficult not to turn around We find it easier to wall ourselves up, to shut ourselves off We know that on the straight way we would have real communion We find it easier not to grow We prefer what is familiar even what is familiar hurts us Dear God With the pain and the glory of this past week trailing at our feet, we enter your house to pray By design or habit or fear or longing we have been carried to this place, and now pause before Thee God of life beyond death God of forgiveness beyond sin God who raises the dead and frees the prisoner To Thee we lift our hearts For reminders of your law we give thanks For the harsh teaching of experience in which the law we break breaks us We offer some thanks No other God but Thee do we seek No human art finally fills us Help us not to pray in vain or to miss the chance for worship Instruct us in how to love our neighbor we pray To honor elders, to choose life, to be true, to be fair, to be honest, to be happy O Lord into our homes this week the long shadow of absence and emptiness has somehow stretched We are shaken by the illness of friends, the mistakes of loved ones, hurt inflicted and endured, plans gone awry, chances missed All our sorrow we wrap up now and leave at your altar Thank you dear God that by thy grace joy too has warmed our homes Birth Problems faced and solved Reconciliation Healing New Life All our joys too we commend to Thee As spiritual offerings Lord teach us to pray as we ought and need we do ask in Jesus’ name Amen Almighty and Mysterious God With many different thoughts and words By many different actions We hunger for you Even when we claim to deny you We want to know your will We pray that as a people We might find our way back to Thee Will you help us to exchange our National self-interest For a glimpse of the justice of God We pray that One by one We might learn to live Not absent mindedly Not driven by longings for pleasure Not harried, on the run, fighting an everlasting rear-guard action Not carried away by self-satisfaction Or by lack of self-satisfaction Not fearful, not fearful, not fearful But faithfully Striving to live in thy sight Then shall we know Thee Come unto us as the rain O God To strengthen us To give us good growth To feed us To fulfill the promise of our trust in Thee Heavenly Father In the speaking and hearing of thy name alone We expect to find freedom, peace Deliverance from the pettiness That clouds our minds and warps our will and discourages us We expect deliverance straightaway From the infrastructure of material gods With whom we and our children live We give thanks for talented people Near and far Who give us through their ability A hope that the massive problems which face us Also have solutions For scientists, engineers, builders, architects, planners and All whom they direct We give thanks Out of the depths of our hearts Do we cry to Thee Dear God Hoping for a cleansing and redirection And a sense of new life In Jesus’s name Dear Lord and Father of mankind Forgive our foolish ways Cast out our sin And enter in Be born in us today As the days grow shorter and nights longer Help us not only to look But to listen for Thee Help us to hear, where our sight fades into darkness Help us to hear the overtones of thy presence Help us to listen for Thee Some of us come to worship today Truly looking and longing for Thee We sense that alone we fall short Dress us up in an assurance of thy care Then our undue striving will stop Our constant straining will cease Our fear of our own real selves will melt before the word ‘Thou art’ Will we make the journey to Bethlehem? Will we be ready for Christmas? In all our preparation Will we notice the invasion of One Who bids we be prepared for Him Himself And not only for his birthday Help us to hear the overtones of thy presence among us For those who are alone this morning and last night In bars alone Watching television alone Eating in restaurants alone Lying in beds of pain alone Hungry alone We ask thy blessing Forgive our negligence Bind us close to Thee Then set us free, make us free Amen God of love and God of power Our origin and our destination Our help in time of trouble Guide through struggle The source of our best hope and highest dream We give Thee thanks for this another day For this further opportunity to know Thee And even in this late hour to do thy will Send thy speedy blessing on those who hunger and thirst for Thee Almighty God We pray that Thou wouldst interrupt our lives and thoughts Causing us to gaze upward To recognize our need of Thee Heavenly Father, deny us when we lean toward selfishness Eternal spirit, announce yourself, enter into our lives, change our patterns of thinking and doing Amen Heavenly Father Who alone art good We lift up our hearts to Thee in this hour of praise and thanksgiving We ask thy forgiveness For our lack of charity For our pride and self-indulgence For our self-worship For many words unfitly spoken For deeds done in spite For quarreling without purpose For a predilection for easy tasks we can See and measure and finish When we are called to work at things more difficult For a certain lack of trust We ask forgiveness in the strong name of Jesus Christ We pray thy healing Upon our own families Upon those whom we have met this week who of a sudden are ill Upon those whose trouble is long standing Upon certain ones whose need is a pressure And cause for worry Upon the very old and the very young Who are closer than we to Thee Upon some whom we name silently in our hearts before Thee We pray thy healing We seek thy reconciliation Between neighbor and neighbor Parent and child Teacher and student Friend and friend Amon the nations and powers The interests and wealth and the dire need of the many The divisions within—even—thy church A cause of shame for the church We seek thy reconciliation, in the strong name of Jesus Christ, these are our prayers (for forgiveness, for healing, and for reconciliation) We lay them before Thee. Thy will be done! Amen Complaint God of wisdom, our complaint this morning A malaise brought on The silent suffering of those in the neighborhood The stark ugly face of hunger Turmoil of a world growing too quickly Imprisonment that makes us all jail-birds Appeal God of commitment, our appeal this morning is For specific events of healing For malaise For healing for the physically ill For nourishment for the hungry And freedom for the prisoners Trust God of power Our trust is in you Some inkling of that trust has brought us together That trust encourages us to hear you in prayer, in preaching, and in praise Our trust, unshakably grounded in Jesus Christ Dear God You invite us to an hour of reflection, thanksgiving, communion, questioning, meditation, celebration Let us give thanks to the Lord! For this is a time to give thanks For food, for shelter, for health, for peace That not all the world shares This is an hour for divine worship For remembering the saints of old For warming hands at the gospel fire For being still For keeping still For silence That in the silence We might catch the faith of one who said: The Lord is my light and my salvation Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life Of whom shall I be afraid? Father We remember that the apostle said That when he was a child he thought and spoke and acted like a child But when he became a man, he gave up childish ways We know that it is your will for us That we learn to live as adults and Christian men and women And to give up childish things and ways Yet fear of the future makes us prefer what is familiar Even when that very common closeness hurts us This advent season we pray that we will grow into full adulthood Into the kinds of people you would have us be Give us the capacity for wonder The capacity for vulnerability The capacity to laugh at ourselves This season is wonderful if we see the wonder But do we Lord? Do we see wonder? Or do we see a monotonous recurrence of things that have happened before And will surely happen again? The coming of the Christ child to the humble manger in Bethlehem Should surely give us courage to face the dark And poorer spots of our lives: does it? Do we let ourselves be vulnerable? And let ourselves be hurt for your sake, Lord? Give us courage to be defeated in a good fight Give us courage to be beaten for a good cause Help us to be vulnerable for Thee, as was the babe in the manger Lord, if Thou has come to us If Thou has taken the burden of our humanity upon yourself If Thou hast come to us And brought us the salvation we could not give ourselves Then can we not be free to laugh at ourselves We pray to be given the gift of self-mockery So that we learn not to take ourselves too seriously This Advent season we pray for the gifts Of wonder, vulnerability, and self-mockery. Heavenly Father We ask for a sense of your spirit this morning May our speaking and listening Our worship before you Be filled with marks of the truth That can set us free We come before Thee, the truth of the living God With a week full of experiences, some good and some bad Remembering that thou art a God who ‘delights not in wickedness’ Who has no use for: lust, gluttony, avarice, sloth, anger, envy and pride And so lets these things drop to the ground, dead We puff ourselves up You pop us like balloons We hide ourselves in half-truths. You expose us As the dawn exposes the earth in the morning We are hard where we should be soft Soft where we should be hard Fearful! Fearful in things large and small But Thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy And so we enter thy house Praying for healing for those who are ill Praying for a sense of care, of delight in giving Praying for the will to discipline ourselves To be taught by Thee In order to use all that has been given to us: Money, television, telephone, automobile, food, clothes, shelter, safety And not be used by them To do all to thy glory In this life we know pain and confusion Lead us Lord For without Thee we are lost O Lord Our God In Thee do we take refuge when the storms come upon us We shelter ourselves in Thee for a time We shelter ourselves in your faithfulness Heavenly Father! Thou art our fortress and bulwark So many fears nip at us like stray dogs It seems like we are torn apart by them A visitor—we are concerned The telephone—we are concerned A fire siren—we are frightened The daily mail—we are concerned The newspaper—we are concerned The hurt look in a loved one’s eye—we are guilty Like a man running down a dark alley We are chased by the fear that surrounds us Lord God Almighty to save! Deliver us from the fear that pursues us We shelter ourselves in Thee Can we hear the words of thy Christ? Will we this day hear and obey? Will we this day trust and obey? We shelter ourselves in Thee We wait in the cross’s shadow Christ is risen! Lord hear our prayer Today our prayer is for our country So troubled and hurt as she has been in the last week We pray for the healing of our countrymen and others Injured in the fighting in Lebanon and Grenada We pray for the grieving families of those who died We pray that our own hearts Will not become hardened against these deaths But that we will have the grace to see each and every death As an infinite loss The loss of a child of God We pray for the many Christian and faithful men and women Who have been entrusted with the governance of this world In so many ways In so many ways our lives rest with their decisions and actions May our leaders be both strong and merciful May our citizens be both loyal and watchful May our wise men be both insightful to know the truth And courageous to speak the truth Though it cost them dearly May our children be trained up in a way pleasing to Thee To prepare the way of the Christ And of his kingdom on earth May our senior citizens find ways to share their treasure Of wisdom and experience with ignorant and naïve youth May our churches not shrink from the calling To be both in the world and yet not of the world Keep our church doors open Even to the least of these our brethren May our Christian people once again hear the gospel call To make each moment an act of worship Today our prayer is for our country So troubled and hurt as she has been in the last week Lord hear our prayer! Amen God of our achievement and of our failure God of our kindness and of our bickering God of our insight and of our blindness God of our strength and of our weakness God of our honor and of our embarrassment God who is with us in the springtime of well-being and in the autumn of discontent We are not worthy at all of Thee We skate on the surface of life when you would have us dive in to its depth We do not notice that souls are being formed as the world hastens on its way Thank goodness for the Christ! The Christ who helps us learn in the simplest things in life who we really are The Christ who gives us another day to learn the hard lesson of his love The Christ who moves like wind to make this world a better place The Christ who loves u though we are utterly unworthy God of our sin and of our salvation God of our doubt and of our faith God of our friends and of our enemies Give us a closer walk with Thee this week In the powerful name of the Risen Jesus we pray Amen Father in Heaven We have offended you We forget why we are here, and what truly lasts We are unwilling to love only love We do not control our hungers We neglect to care for details We store up treasure on earth We are lazy We get angry at others when we have only ourselves to blame We thrive on flattery, whether true or false We are so busy with ourselves that we do not watch for You Yet we are here this morning Something warns us that Christ lives That Christ is yours And we are his (If only we could live with this in our hearts!) Where is faith? Where are men and women who can trust enough to take some chances Where is hope? Where are the communities of women and men who have a good vision for the future? Where is love? Where does one go hungry so that another may eat? Trust, desire, and sacrifice abide, these three We long to know them! We are blind, deaf, mute and disoriented Maybe we will stumble on faith, hope and love But God if you lead us, we will know them soon and for sure For Thou only art holy Thou only art the Lord Amen Brothers and Sisters The Christ calls on you now to follow him He invites you to shun every form of evil To seek every kind of good And to worship God in public and private He calls upon you to consider the source of your life To considers its destiny To realize that it is later than you think The Christ calls upon you to love your neighbor He shows you that you like all men are a sinner And he tells you that he can lead you out of even the deepest sin He warns you that without the kind of love he inspires This old world is without hope He reminds you that though you tarry here awhile You are going home To a house not made with hands The Christ calls on you now to follow him To worship the Lord thy God with all thine heart and soul and mind and strength And to love thy neighbor as thyself He asks only this: That in your heart you say without falseness ‘Lord I want to be a Christian’ Are you new to the faith? Be baptized in this community right soon Are you baptized but at a distance from Christ? Confirm your faith now Are you baptized and confirmed but doubting? Believe again in the only Person who was ever worth believing in, the Crucified One Are you baptized and confirmed and believing and in no special need? Mention it in prayer right now Are you baptized and confirmed and believing and in no special need? Then look about you to those less fortunate And remember the words of the Lord how he said, ‘As you have done it to the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me’ The Lord Jesus Christ calls you to his banquet table Whether you hear the call for the first time or the fiftieth time Don’t come late to the banquet The Christ calls on you now to follow him Lord God Return to us in Jesus the Chosen One You alone are our shepherd, our guide, With Thee we shall never want for another chance for new life When the old path has become cluttered and unpassable We thank you when you make us, force us To lie down and rest To be refreshed by an inkling of your presence To be restored in the knowledge that we are creatures, created to serve You Sometimes we do right And that feels good To know that we have done right That we have served the cause of justice It is an act of worship to do what is right before Thee And it truly pains us that we are not more often always capable of doing right Sometimes we end up in the valley of darkness And there is a mighty anger in us When we see unrelieved sickness When we see sudden unfair tragedy When we see the corrosion brought on by fearful selfish living Then there is anger in us We give thanks that in this darkness Your light is upon us Your song is in our hearts You are great to comfort us Sometimes we are trapped Hemmed in by enemies Then do we learn to savor thy gifts Food for the body, anointing oil for the soul Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of our lives And we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever The Bible questions us: When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? Adam, Adam, where are thou? My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Who determined its measurements? Surely you must know Are you not one of them, Simon, one of the disciples of Jesus? When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? Let us all praise God A thought: There may be safety in the feeling of incompleteness or uncertainty Otherwise failure would give rise to the death struggle for success But this cloudier sense of ‘unrighteousness’ keeps the ego off balance Alert, on its feet, asking questions of the speaker So, we are safe from triumphalism Safe from deadly certainty Alive to the Spirit Anxious for God A prayer: We are not so smart We know that we can be broken if asked to do too much We ask protection When the institutions that we have made Family, church, company, state When they turn on us and begin to eat us alive Give us a sure, sure sense of our ultimate worth in your eyes Make us wise as serpents, innocent as doves When we cry ‘The night is dark and I am far from home’ Be to us a light in the dark Almighty God Author of eternal life Illumine our hearts By the light of thy grace That our lips may show forth thy praise That our lives may bless Thee That our worship may glorify Thee Through Jesus Christ our Lord Who taught us to pray together In this hour We will give thanks to the Lord with our whole heart We will tell of his wonderful deeds We will be glad and exult in him In this hour We will ask again How shall we teach our children? How does the heart grow? In this hour We will give thanks Let us worship God Hear what comfortable words Christ saith unto all that truly turn to him ‘Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden And I will give you rest’ Hear also the words of St. John: ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son That whosoever believeth in him should not perish But have everlasting life Hear also the words of Scripture The Lord is gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, full of compassion, slow to anger and of great mercy The Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit A broke and contrite hear God will not despise Heavenly Father What comfort it give us again to raise voices And hymns and praise to Thee! Without Thee Our frustration would turn to bitterness Without Thee Our confusion would mean utter blindness Without Thee Our past would eat us alive Without Thee We would have no reason to give…or live It gives us comfort Though we stumble Though we straggle Though we sometimes think it might be more pleasant To forget the whole thing It gives us comfort To call upon thy name Upon that name that charms our fears That sets the prisoner free Yes It gives us comfort to raise voices, hymns, and prayers to Thee! Amen Between the dark and the daylight When the night is beginning to lower Comes a pause in the day’s occupations That is known as the children’s hour Father God We pause now in the midst of the swirling weeks and months and years In the midst of the worries and sickness Joys, sorrows, and just plain hard work We pause as children to give thanks We give thanks for peace and prosperity For comfort and a wide open and rich land in which to live We give thanks for friends and neighbors For community and church But as we pause Between the dark of our own limitations and failings And the daylight of your Word We would ask these things We ask for your guidance As we work through the decisions that make our lives Spirit of life in this new dawn Give us the faith that follow on We would ask your presence With the physically sick and the emotionally distraught May they know the love of their neighbors And may their neighbors love them as you taught them to love We would ask your influence On the great decision makers of our nation and world May they have the insight, energy, and creativity So necessary in their trying situations Father God We pause as children Your children Between the darkness and the daylight And ask your guidance in each and every one of our deeds In Christ’s name we pray Amen Heavenly Father How great is thy name O Lord our God through all the earth To mention it brings us peace We fall so short of thy purpose for us, though That we ask special blessings Deliver us we pray from evil Close our ears To gossip To false teachings To the raucous din of TV To the selfish requests of our inner hearts To the counsel of fear and timidity That we might hear no evil Close our eyes To backward glances, that do no good To fascination with others’ wrong To our own minor good To the approval or disapproval of men To blank stares of material finery That we might see no evil Close our mouths To character assassination To unnecessary criticism To rough language To thoughtless, thoughtless words To flattery That we might speak no evil Heavenly Father How great is thy name in all the earth! Father In our prayers this morning We lift up the plight of the homeless ones on earth For those in South East Asia and Lebanon and the Bronx Who wander, with no destination We ask that even our own far off conduct Might serve as a conduit for their settlement With the very spirit of our own nation Which drifts undisciplined We make a reckoning in our hearts For the homeless children near and far We ask a strong arm of support How does each of us become a strong arm? For our own misdirection For our own homeless lack of hope We silently ask forgiveness God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob God of the manger and cross and empty tomb God of light which shines in the darkness Teach us that we are going home Lord, we tarry here awhile But we are going home Help us to understand the guidance in our Lord’s prayer As together we invoke it Heavenly Father Whom we do not know, cannot see, may not understand But who knows, sees and understands us Why do the nations conspire And the peoples plot in vain Our rulers, all rulers are set against us They do their own people great harm They trap us in great dark cities Detroit, New York, Caracas, Dar Es Salaam, Hong Kong Chaining us with heat, ignorance, drugs A great emptiness in the side Our rulers have turned against the commandments of Jesus And we have let them get away with it Do we hear you laughing? Deriding human pride that pretends to escape your judgment? In fury, proclamation, faith, You have taught us To measure all by the yardarms of the cross Lord, have mercy upon us thy disobedient children Have we not heard your warning to the rulers of this earth? We have heard it Why then do we not echo it? Have mercy Be wise! Be warned! Bow down! Service justice with fear and trembling! Our coming forward to pray rests on Christ Jesus We have heard of a king in a manger Surrounded with filth and commonness Raised among us The measure of all things You said to him, ‘Thou art my son. Today I have begotten Thee’ Praise to Thee O Most High In Jesus name We pray Father We know that not a sparrow falls but that you know it We know that even the hairs on our heads are numbered We know that you watch over your children For your abiding care we are thankful But we grieve in this hour For one whose sudden death we did not foresee or expect We grieve for a loss that is permanent and painful And down deep we grieve for what might have been We hoped for more time Help us in our remembering to cherish All that was solid and good and humble and Christian in every life Help us to accept what has happened Chase from our minds that nagging and useless thought, ‘If only…’ Bring us to a sound acceptance of death For we affirm the goodness in life We affirm care of all children We affirm reliance on Christ In life, in death, in life beyond death In this hour of grief Of memories, of acceptance, of strong affirmation We give our lives over again to this one we call Lord Even Jesus Christ Wood on wood The rocker rubs the floor In a haze of pipe smoke The spaniel whines He dreams His master muses The rocker rolls and creaks A hundred pictures, a thousand memories To sleep, to sleep perchance to dream The rocker repeats Its cadence of peace Hearth and heart red In crackling amusement Wood on wood The rocker remembers Dear Lord God of us All Source of Life Our last and ultimate hope We lay before you the excesses of these last few days We stand alarmed, chastened and humbled by excesses in spirit and in body Some are awash in numerous hours of work Some are inundated by people and visits and parties and reunions Some see billows rolling of problems and worrying, cresting ever higher each day And far away Others have cars under water Others walk past pools of blood in formerly friendly neighborhoods Others see homes covered in fire and ash Eternal Father strong to save Lift us above the small swells nearby That we might help, in some small way, To stem the surging tides of evil the world over