God who is father and mother to us all, your morning has broken upon us once again. When we consider all the worlds your hands have made, we know that you are with us all the time. For we’ve seen it in the lightning, heard it in the thunder, and felt it in the rain. God of our weary years and silent tears, be near to the hurting and the lonely. Be near to the despairing and the afraid. There’s a wideness in your mercy, o God, and we your creatures ask you to help us now as you have in ages past. Help those who are bound by their addictions and their fears, bound by their shadows and their longings. Great is your faithfulness, o God. Mighty is your fortress, and firm is your foundation. May it be so today.
Jesus our friend and our one foundation, we know that the hopes and fears of all the years are met in you, o Christ. You are love’s pure light, the one who paid it all, the Song of our lives. In you, there is no east or west. But too often in our world, we only see that distance in what divides us. So be the tie that binds us one to another, especially in a season where our differences glare. Be the tie across partisanship and power. Be the tie across borders and disconnect. Disperse the gloomy clouds of our nighttimes. Let every heart prepare your room, especially those whose hearts are full of cruelty and rage, greed and malice. From our fears and sins release us. Because you live, we can face tomorrow. May it be so today.
Rekindling Spirit, you are balm in Gilead, you are a mighty rushing wind, you gather the cloud of witness round this sacred place. So breathe on us, breath of God. Stir our church this day. When we are prone to wonder, help us hold the Christlight for one another in the nighttime of our fear. Where cross the crowded ways of life, let our hearts be broken for the world you so love. Show us how to stand for justice and work for what is right. Be still our vision. Give us strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Grant us wisdom, grant us courage for the facing of this hour. May it be so today.
Holy are you, God in three persons. We praise you today, for in you, it is well with our souls. In you, our faith has found a resting place. In you, we see all other ground is sinking sand. In you, love’s redeeming work is done, and that love will not let us go. What wondrous love is this, it demands our soul, our lives, our all.
If we had a thousand tongues to sing, we’d raise within our hearts this precise melody, o God. For this is our story. This is our song. So for the wonders that astound us, for the truths that still confound us, most of all that love has found us, thanks be to you, o God, from whom all blessings flow.
We pray these things in the name of Jesus, who taught us how to pray, saying…
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.
Amen.