Pondicherry, India
Opening Prayer
Surely you are my salvation, O God; I will trust and not be afraid. For you are my strength and my song, and you have become my salvation. -Isaiah 12:2 (silent reflection) Prayer of the Bible But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. -Isaiah 49:14-16 (Free expression of praise and thanksgiving to God) Confession of Sin Thanks be to you O God that I have risen this day to the rising of this life itself. May it be a day of blessing, O God of every gift, a day of new beginnings given. Help me to avoid every sin, and the source of every sin to forsake and as the mist scatters from the crest of the hills may each ill haze clear from my soul O God. -Prayer from Iona Community (Time of silence for confession of sin) The Words of Jesus And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down. -Mark 15:33-36 (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 our God, we thank you that you come to help us with your power and might. We thank you that you come to us in our suffering and strengthen us in all we must endure on earth. You help us so that what is good and full of light comes more and more to us and to all people. We thank you and pray that your power, coming from the invisible world into the visible, may continue its quiet working in us until the day when everyone can see Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and into all eternity. Amen. -Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt (1842-1919) 
Salt River, Arizona
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