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).
Lord God, the broken come to You today because “no stone, nor steel, nor diamond is so hard as the impenitent heart of man(kind)” (Martin Luther). Soften our hearts and open our vision to a world larger than ourselves. Anchor our lives in the steadfast truth of Your love so that we will know that “a few bad chapters does not mean that our story is over” (TobyMac). Remind us that we were meant to be human and that we all fall short of the glory of God. Give us the wisdom to just pause and be silent, so that the truth of God can be heard.
Yes, there will always be disagreements within the body of Christ, here on earth, but there is one thing that we can always agree on…love. “Love is God manifested. To lead with Love is to go with God” (Claire Danna). “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can” (MLK). The world can change and it will. And as it changes, let us respond with the same Love that was first given to us when God was crowned and crucified by an angry mob.
Cross at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Mounds, Minnesota
Lord God, “be in our head and our understanding” (Sarum Primer, 1558), for You are not so much the object of our knowledge as you are the cause of our wonder” (Kallistos Ware). Let Your good news come crashing down into the deserts of our hearts and invite us to join in the flow of the Holy Spirit.
Like a wind, take us to where it is that You go, so that we can live beyond ourselves. Communicate to us the mystery that is God and the truth that we don’t have all the answers. Give us the strength to dream and the courage to inspire others on their journey towards salvation and everlasting life.
You give us the gift of living in between the now and eternity. Let us dare to fight for the weak, poor and the forgotten. Jesus extends grace, love and mercy for all people. So shall we. Jesus identified with the outcast, the lowly and the despised. So shall we. Jesus gave healing and forgiveness. So shall we. Lord, “don’t let us transmit our wounds unto each other, but instead help us to transform others and to change the world” (Rev. Ed Bacon).
Almighty God, You are the engine that caused creation and life. Out of chaos you stepped into our experience so that we could experience You. Move in us today and help us to sense the prompting of Your Spirit so that we can go above and beyond what is expected.
Usher us into a vision larger than just our egocentric view, so that we can share in the perspective of the whole and not the few. Give us the words to speak across boundaries and the mind to transcend our differences. Don’t let us ever place ourselves above others. Let us always be led by the truth of God’s amazing and radical grace for all.
You forgive us and give us the power to forgive. “There is no future without forgiveness” (Desmond Tutu) and “the work of God is never static” (Dr. Amy Butler). “With the Holy Spirit by our side, we can do so much more than what we could have ever hoped for by ourselves” (Rev. Ed Bacon).
Lord God, You are forever creating something new and unexpected each and every moment of our lives. Let the “wind of Your Holy Spirit blow through (the walls) of staid tradition… (and) spin us around to see our circumstances in ways that we’ve never seen before” (Rev. Dr. Amy K. Butler, Riverside Church). Let us respond and react to Your Word now because life is too short to wait to be captivated by the heart of God.
Stop us from fighting each other so that we can start fighting for each other. Let us stand up for the sick, the poor, the needy and the marginalized. For as long as there is one person in need of kindness and compassion then the ministry of Christ is far from over.
Let us not close our eyes to the brokenness of this world or shut our ears from the truth of God. Because the way that we live our life can be seen by the blind and heard by the deaf. Let us live and love with the same mercy and grace that was given to us by God’s only Son.
God of everything seen and unseen let Your infinite love flow through us as members of one community, one body, and one church. Flush out the fears that linger in our minds by breaking down all of the barriers so that we can see each other as You see us: forgiven sinners redeemed by the same God.
Lord, transform our potential into Your now. Interrupt our routine, interrupt our life, interrupt our religion and lead us into radical growth so that we can fall in love with life again and make decisions based on integrity, respect and grace.
Your ascension into heaven is our glory and our hope. You lead us into eternity and we follow You into the new creation, the new covenant, between us and our Creator, so that all will know that life is not meant to be endured. It is meant to be enjoyed, and it is meant to be lived within and surrounded by the loving arms of God.
Lord God, bring us together as children of God. Shield us from this dysfunctional world. Through Your Son, Jesus, You connected us to God and to each other. Remind us today of that connection. Remind us that we are all sinners redeemed by the same God.
Give us the wisdom to stop fighting battles that don’t need to be fought and to let go of the things that just need to be given to God. Give us the patience and the strength to just simply wait for You because “You can do more in one second that we could ever do in an entire lifetime” (My Emmanuel Prayer Team).
You are the Alpha and Omega. You are the source of everything that we are and will ever be. It is because of You that we have hope. It is through You that we have love. It is by You that we can live.
Gracious and Holy One, come into our lives and minds today. Let us return to Your truth. Remind us, that even in the ordinary moments of life, that we are surrounded by God’s extraordinary presence.
Don’t let us just return to business as usual, but instead lead us into the new possibilities of God’s amazing grace. Do not let us do good works simply to earn Your favor or the favor of others, because we’re not in this life for business. We are in this life to be among the living, and because of Your Son we can truly live as children of God.
You laid down Your life for this mess of a world because “in our desire to control love, we lost our way” (Jeff Hood). But love found us and continues to guide us. Each time we mess up and fall, the cross reminds us that the Holy Spirit lives and dwells within all of us, and that we are never ever alone.
Creator God, we meet You at this point in our life because we want a connection with the truth. Flood our minds with the wisdom to stop thinking as the world does. Challenge us to apply Your Word in every aspect of our lives. Don’t let us look elsewhere for recognition, love or value for “the mind and the heart will be restless until we rest in the arms of God…and God is the totality of Love” (Rev. Jeff Hood), so we don’t need to fear life’s challenges but instead trust in the One who is the source of our strength and our hope.
Love has been spoken loudly, clearly and definitively the through the life, death and resurrection of God’s only Son. It is through Jesus that we are transformed from sinner to saint and receive the gift of eternal life. It is His Love that surrounds us. It is His Love that will sustain us. And it is His Love that will deliver us evil.
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