Phoenix, Arizona
Opening Prayer
Lord, thank You for your promise that if we seek You with all our heart and with all our soul, that we will find You, because you delight in revealing Yourself to us. -Deuteronomy 4:29 (silent reflection) Prayer of the Bible Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. -Psalm 33:1-5 (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 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” -Mark 14:7-9 (Think deeply on the life and words of Jesus) Prayers for Ourselves and Others Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. -Colossians 4:2 (Time to bring before God our own needs and the needs of others) Closing Prayer In our secret yearnings we wait for your coming, and in our grinding despair we doubt that you will. And in this privileged place we are surrounded by witnesses who yearn more than do we and by those who despair more deeply than do we. In this season of hope which runs so quickly to fatigue and this season of yearning which becomes so easily quarrelsome. Give us the grace and the impatience to wait for your coming to the bottom of our toes, to the edge of our finger tips. Come in your power and in your weakness and make all things new. Amen. -Walter Brueggemann (1933- ) 
Phoenix, Arizona
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