Lord God, we come just as we are with the shared brokenness of a fallen world. We’ve become numb and closed our eyes to the needs of others. Connect with us now and wash away our mistakes.
When others hurt us, help us to understand their situation instead of trying to hurt them back. Give us the wisdom to see that we are not boxed into the limitations that we’ve created for ourselves. Show us the bigger picture, that “sin is indeed always in us, and Godly people feel it; but it is covered” (Martin Luther) in the healing hands of Jesus Christ who takes away the sins of the world.
Lord, with all of our insecurities, You take the bad with the good with or without our apologies. Your love is unconditional. Your love knows no boundaries. Your love is always with us. So, open up our hearts and let the healing truly begin.
Lord God, You “stand with us and give us strength” (2 Timothy 4:17). Center us now in the truth that will change the landscape of our limited perspective. Yes, we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves, but we are also captive to the living Word of God that will not let us go. It holds on to us even when we stray. Some of our sins we know…but some are known only to You.
Help us to know that we are welcome at Your table with all of our joy, sorrow, anger, and regret. Just absorb all of the storms that we have to offer, for we have many. For today, “everything does not gleam and sparkle, but everything is being cleansed” (Martin Luther).
We’re sorry when we doubt You and make mistakes. Jolt us out of our complacency and awaken us to the needs of others. Reshape our hearts so that we can go out and touch lives and change the world. In the name of the all knowing and ever loving God we pray. Amen.
Great Protector, we give thanks and dedicate this time to You. Forgive us, if we asked You more than we thanked You. Help us to see that we are not the only ones in need of Your mercy. Let Your music fill the silence of our hearts so that we can sing Your praise.
We’re sorry for words we said or didn’t say. We’re sorry for things we did or didn’t do. We come here to be cleansed from our mistakes, and to be made new. Speak to us, lead us and guide us because we cannot be heroes of our own making. We’re just people who share the same brokenness and need the same healing. Let us just be still and know exactly who You are.
Lord, don’t let us be divided over the ways of the world but allow us to be united in the kingdom of God. Wrap us in the armor of truth, justice and love so that we can truly see those around us as ourselves and say to each other that “we’re sorry you’re heartbroken and we’re sorry that we’re not perfect, but we have a perfect love in Jesus Christ and we would love to share that with you right now and right here…one sinner to another.” In the name of the creating and sustaining God whose love knows no end.
Great provider, thank You for blessing us with so much! Each breath, each sunrise and each moment of life is a gift. We pray for a thankful heart. We pray for a gracious heart. And we pray for a humble heart. “Beneath our clothes, our reputations, our pretensions, beneath our religion or lack of it, we are all vulnerable both to the storm without and to the storm within” (Fredrick Buechner).
Comfort us with the truth that You are always with us, that You will always love us regardless of the works that we do or don’t do, and that You will always redeem us every time that we fail. Help us to believe in the miracle of God’s never ending love.
Give us the wisdom to trust You, O Lord, so that we can let go of our fear of failure and our hunger for success. Reorient our perspective so that we can see that the living bread from heaven is for all of us, and that it will never run out. Let us know that we can live this life in the abundance of all that God provides.
Great Provider, hear our prayers today and not our demands. Supply us with a greater understanding of Your love. Create new ways of thinking as “we live our lives before the wild, dangerous, unfettered and free character of the living God” (Walter Brueggemann).
Help us to pray for each other and not just ourselves. Give us the wisdom to have less ego, hate, and condemnation, but have more compassion, love and mercy. Instead of demanding what we think we deserve, let us give thanks for what we don’t deserve: Grace and forgiveness. We’ve all made mistakes. We all need to forgive each other and point each other back to God. So strengthen us to run toward the experience of love. Guide us to wherever it is that You are.
“So when the devil throws our sins in our face and declares that we deserve death and hell, we can tell him this: “we admit what we deserve…For we know (of) One who suffered and made satisfaction on our behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there we shall be also!” (Martin Luther)
Great Provider, let us be aligned with You, O God. Mend the broken and embrace the forgotten. Remind us, that “our glory cannot save us, but the Glory of God is eternal” (Jonathan Cahn). Speak to us directly and cure the infection of hate, so that we can be propelled into the Light of the world and be instruments of healing. Don’t let us get lost in the desert of unused life. Open up the floodgates and wash away the hurt and the shame. And from our nothingness, create in us a clean heart and a clear mind that seeks You in everything that we do.
Calm the storms when we are overwhelmed by the hunger of the multitudes. Remind us that it is not what we have that will provide but that God will always provide when we come up short. “In Jesus, there is not one category of people who heal and one who need wholeness. There is not one category of people who minister and one who needs care. There is just one category: Hungry sinners in need of a Savior” (Nadia Boltz Webber). So let’s claim our miracle today and grab hold of the only truth that matters: That there is salvation and hope in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Original Oil Pointing commissioned by New Song Church
Let us be aligned with You, O God. Allow us to embrace the changes that resonate with God’s Holy plan. Calm the storms around us and within us by letting “love diminish our fears” (Rev. Zelda Kennedy). And even when we’re caught in the winds of the world, please don’t let us ever stop witnessing the gospel of Jesus Christ. For “sin (will) happen whenever we refuse to keep growing” (Richard Rohr). So nourish our growing relationship with You, O Lord, and remind us that “hope will never be silent” (Harvey Milk).
“Love cannot be taught. Love comes from God alone, and must be incarnated and experienced” (Rev. Jeff Hood). “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter” (MLK). The love of God will not be silent and neither will we. We will not look away from those whom we can help. We can and will be the transformed compassionate children of Almighty God, so that all will know that they are loved. So that all will know that they are healed and forgiven. So that all will know that they truly belong.
Lord, guide us to respond to the movement of Your Spirit and not resist it. “What we are not, make us. What we know not, teach us. What we have not, give us… (Teach us) “about hope instead of weariness; love instead of fear and (reveal) the power of amazing grace instead of evil and hate – hold nothing back” (Rev. Zelda Kennedy).
Give us the courage to examine ourselves and “allow us to see where we have been blind” (Obama), blind to the pain of those around us, and blind to our shared humanity. Let us be the sanctuary from a harsh world. Let our actions tell those we meet, that their lives matter. Let grace surround us. Let light restore us and let love unite us as the body of Christ.
“Don’t let us slip back into comfortable silence and avoid the uncomfortable truth that plagues our society” (Obama). “Our calling, is not just within the walls of this congregation, but the life and community in which it resides” (Rev. Clementa Pinckney). Break the cycle of repeating the same mistakes of the past and open our hearts to the revelation of God’s Word that “the church is freedom, freedom to worship, freedom to be fully what God intends us to be and have equality in the sight of God” (Rev. Clementa Pinckney).
From Northwest Community Church UCC in Las Vegas, NV
Great physician, bring healing to all that are here today. We cannot heal our selves so let Your Spirit wash over the wounds of our hearts and minds. Fade away the anger, the resentment and the ignorance that we’ve allowed into our lives. “Take the mess of our past and turn it into a message” (Christine Cain) by shifting our hearts and minds into a new chapter where ordinary people do extraordinary things. Write our destiny so that we can make Grace real to everybody and that all people can live in the full experience of humanity, dignity and respect.
Nothing in creation can make us any less human. We are all sinners redeemed by the same loving Creator. So “let us find words that comfort rather than congratulate. Let us seek to be a community of grace and forgiveness rather than of protest. Let us use our hands not to (applaud) but to wipe away every tear” (UCC General Synod) from the brokenhearted people right next to us. Let us be heroes and champions of the gospel and not it’s opponents.
Creator of all, we come in through these doors because we need You to reopen the doors of our hearts and community onto the mission of Christ. Let this church be reborn and let the Holy Spirit unleash the power of healing that resides within all of us. Teach us to not just communicate with each other but to commune with each other.
As generations and cultures crash into each other, shift our thinking to rediscover the ancient unity of all sinners that was revealed on the cross at Calvary. Strengthen us to hold onto this union, this commonality, that we all share as children of God. Remind us, that even through the greatest storms of life, we are never alone.
“Faith does not eliminate questions. But faith knows where to take them” (Scott and Kelli KLOVE). For those of us celebrating with our families today, we give thanks to God. For those of us grieving the loss of a loved one, we pray for compassion and understanding that “grief never ends…it changes. It’s a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith…It is the price of love” (Scott and Kelli K-LOVE).
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