We lift our hearts to you, O God …To find our bearings and regain our souls …
To learn again the lessons of life, real life … life lived in the grace and goodness of Jesus Christ our LORD …
We give thanks this morning for your love …
A world-encompassing love …
At work at in all things for good …
Before we leave here, O God, before this hour is up,
Touch our souls with your love …
Heal the wounds of fear and pride that make us angry and set us against one another …
Heal us, we pray, of every bigoted thought, every racist inclination, every prejudice and all paranoia … rid our souls of fear, we pray, and then fill our souls with Christ.
That we might live in the joy and responsibility of love … and, yes LORD, we’ll take our chances with the world …
Your son paid quite a price for daring to love.
You son was despised by powerful politicians who dreamed of wealth and empire …
Your son was rejected by powerful preachers who loved their buildings and wielded their influence for personal gain.
Your son stood with the poor and the lame …
The outcast and the rejected …
Your son welcomed the woman at the well and Zacchaeus up a tree …
His kindness shook the foundations of the world …
His love unnerved the powerful …
It is your son, O God, whom we love and serve today … and we promise with all our might, to be faithful to him when tomorrow’s sun rises on another day …
That in our discourse with one another,
In our business dealings and in our plans,
The way we stand in the checkout line at Von’s,
And the way we drive our car,
Something of Christ will shine in our patience and our trust,
In our words and in our values.
That others could see Christ within us.
May it be so, O God,
For this is what we believe,
And this is what we want.
In the name of our LORD Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done …
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