a community creating for the relentless return of Sunday
We give you thanks, O Lord, with all our heart.
You have provided everything we need
in your steadfast love.
Receive these offerings as our response
to your great faithfulness,
for the praise of Jesus’ name. Amen.
Submitted by Rev. Nathan Williams, Covenant Presbyterian Church, West Des Moines, IA
We the Church give thanks to the LORD with our whole heart.
Praise the LORD!
When we look at all the works of the LORD, we know they are great.
Praise the LORD!
The LORD is gracious and merciful, faithful and just.
Praise the LORD!
Submitted by Rev. Will Ryan, First Christian Church, Burlington, IA
We praise you, O Lord, with all our hearts!
As your people gathered in faith, we call upon you.
We celebrate what you have done for us,
and we love to tell the stories of your grace.
For the sake of your unending righteousness,
we call upon your grace and compassion for your people.
We pray for those who are hungry,
and we seek to use our gifts so they might be fed.
We pray for those who suffer oppression
from enemies within or beyond their homelands,
and we look for justice and peace for all people.
We pray for those who seek to draw closer to you,
that you would open the eyes of every heart
and reveal yourself to all who seek you.
We give you thanks, Holy One,
for you are always faithful to your people;
your promises are always sure.
We pray with the wisdom, and in the name,
of Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught us to pray, saying:
The Lord’s Prayer
Submitted by Rev. Nathan Williams, Echo Hill Presbyterian Church, Cedar Rapids, IA
Submitted by Laura Viau, Orlando, FL (MDiv student at University of Dubuque Theological Seminary)
With our whole hearts, we praise you, Lord.
We lift up our alleluias as people who gather to sing and proclaim,
As people who gather to confess and to remember Your redeeming work
As people who gather read and tell of your mighty works,
of your faithfulness and
of your grace.
All glory belongs to you, God.
You are gracious and compassionate.
You provide for us all that we need,
Remembering your promise to hear when we call,
To answer when we knock, and
To reveal yourself when we seek you.
You have revealed your power to us in so many ways:
You heal the sick
You calm the frightened
You bring peace to the grieving
You change the course of our lives
We ask that you reveal you power again today for those on our hearts and minds….
We lift these names to you. To you they are much more than names-
They are your precious children
They are parents, sisters, brothers, children, bosses, employees, aunts, uncles…
They are yours. You know every detail of their lives, far better than we do.
You know their needs.
We can trust you with our prayers,
not only because we know you have the power to answer,
but because we have seen that you are faithful and just.
The promises we claim today are the same as those your
people have claimed across the generations
Through your Son, you have redeemed your people.
You bring beauty and good from what we -in our brokenness and ignorance –
have intended for evil.
And in time, you will redeem the world,
Bringing an end to death
And the beginning of an eternity of worship
When every tribe, tongue and nation will sing songs of praise
Until then, we wait.
Help us not to spend our days looking up at the sky.
Send your Spirit that we might see the world as you do,
Fill us with your compassion for those in need
Of shelter, of a friend, or of an advocate
Send us to the brokenhearted, the discarded
and those who are hungry for the transformation only you can bring.
While our hearts cry Come Lord Jesus,
let our hands reveal your presence in the world we inhabit.
We ask these things in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray saying
Our Father, who art in heaven….
submitted by Michael Morgan, organist, Central Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Georgia; seminary musician, Columbia Theological Seminary; and author of the Psalter for Christian Worship
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