Sedona, Arizona
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, you seek us, and offer us your friendship and invite us into life at its fullest. Grant us the courage and trust to answer your call so that we may be healed and transformed and become witnesses of your great love for the world. -A2J Community (silent reflection) Prayer of the Bible Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. when you hid your face, I was dismayed. To you, Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: “What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me; Lord, be my help. -Psalm 30: 5-10 (Free expression of praise and thanksgiving to God) Confession of Sin All-holy Trinity, have mercy on us. Lord, cleanse us from our sins. Master, pardon our iniquities. Holy God, visit and heal our infirmities for thy Name's sake. -Orthodox prayer (Time of silence for confession of sin) The Words of Jesus And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” -Mark 9:17-19 (Think deeply on the life and words of Jesus) Prayers for Ourselves and Others Lord, help us to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ -Galatians 6:2 (Time to bring before God our own needs and the needs of others) Closing Prayer Lord, look at my soul’s wounds, your living and effective eye sees everything. It pierces like a sword, even to part asunder soul and spirit. Assuredly, my Lord, you see in my soul the traces of my former sins, my present perils, and also motives and occasions for others yet to be. You see those things, Lord, and I would have you see them. you know well, O Searcher of my heart, that there is nothing in my soul that I would hide from you, even had I the power to escape your eyes. My hope, most merciful, is in your loving-kindness; for you will see me, either as a good physician sees, intent upon my healing, or else as a kind master, anxious to correct, or a forbearing father, longing to forgive. -Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167) 
Istanbul, Turkey
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