a community creating for the relentless return of Sunday
The universe is full of God’s handiwork,
God’s Holy Wisdom is the source of life.
We celebrate your works, O Holy One,
for you are our Creator, your Spirit gives us life.
We will sing God’s praises as long as we have a voice,
We bless you God with our whole being!
Submitted by Rev. Will Ryan, Paris FCC and Midway CC
based on Psalm 126:5-6
Faithful God,
let these gifts we present to you today
become seeds of your new creation:
planted in the needs of the world you love;
watered by tears and hope;
fed and strengthened by the glow of Christ’s resurrection;
gathered home with joy and singing. Amen.
submitted by Rev. Nathan Williams, Covenant Presbyterian Church, West Des Moines, IA
O Lord our help,
you stand on the side of the oppressed
and give your goodness to all in need.
We pray for all who are in danger today from enemies –
individual people, groups, countries, and social structures.
For those who are overwhelmed by broken relationships,
mistrust, anger, abuse, or trauma,
we pray for your protection and wholeness.
For those in danger of being swept away
by floods of illness, hunger, homelessness, or grief,
we pray for escape and healing.
Blessed are you, O Lord, who protects and saves your people.
Our help is in your name,
maker and savior of heaven and earth.
We pray through Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray, saying:
The Lord’s Prayer
Submitted by Rev. Nathan Williams, Covenant Presbyterian Church, West Des Moines, IA
O God, our protector, we take refuge in you;
you alone are the source of all our good.
We seek to be counted among the godly and upright,
but we confess that we have run after other powers,
and we have brought trouble upon ourselves and others.
O Lord, our portion and our cup,
you sustain us and lead us in good and pleasant ways.
We confess that we have trusted in false wisdom
and set our hearts on short-sighted desires.
Forgive us, God our life.
Help us set you always before us,
and sustain us in your righteousness.
Let our hearts be glad, our spirits rejoice,
and our bodies rest in hope,
for you do not abandon us to our sin
or let your chosen ones dwell in the pit.
In Christ you show us the path of life;
you welcome us into the joy of your presence;
you feed us with pleasures forevermore. Amen.
Rev. Nathan Williams, Covenant Presbyterian Church, West Des Moines, IA
God, you are a storyteller, and you made us in your image. You spoke, and you still speak, through unexpected people, through silence, through your word written and proclaimed through the centuries. We come to hear your story once again, to find our place among your people and within your vision for all creation. We hear You call us to share your story in our words and in our actions, but we confess that more often our lips are sealed. We are afraid to tell your story. We think we don’t know enough, and we are afraid of offending. We prefer to keep you to ourselves.
Yet still Your word, O Lord, is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
Forgive us for letting the book gather dust on the shelf, and the story gather dust in our hearts.
Speak to us, and through us, Lord.
Help us to know you so well that we cannot help but love you, and to love you so much we
cannot help but serve you, sharing your good news in every place, for it is in doing your
will that we find perfect freedom.
We pray in the name of the one who is your Living Word, Jesus the Christ.
Submitted by Rev. Teri Peterson, St. John’s Church of Scotland, Gourock, Scotland
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