Salt River, Arizona
Opening Prayer
God of all eternity, you know that our human language is almost incapable of expressing our longing for communion with you. But you grant us the gift of a life hidden in you. And the sun rises on a new day, a day of trusting. -Taize Community (silent reflection) Prayer of the Bible For you O God formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. -Psalm 139: 13-16 (Free expression of praise and thanksgiving to God) Confession of Sin Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep to undo. Forgive what our lips tremble to name, what our hearts can no longer bear. Set us free from a past that we cannot change; open to us a future in which we can be changed; and grant us grace to grow more and more in your likeness and image, through Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Amen. -Book of Common Worship (Time of silence for confession of sin) The Words of Jesus And from there Jesus arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. -Mark 7:24-25 (Think deeply on the life and words of Jesus) Prayers for Ourselves and Others Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. -Jeremiah 29:12 (Time to bring before God our own needs and the needs of others) Closing Prayer Lord, catch me off guard today. Surprise me with some moment of beauty or pain so that at least for the moment I may be startled into seeing that you are here in all your splendor, always and everywhere, barely hidden, beneath, beyond, within this life I breathe. -Frederick Buechner (1926-2022 ) 
Salt River, Arizona
|
