[It was a beautiful Sunday for moving our Connect Time coffee and refreshments outside, welcoming college students, blessing backpacks, listening to our wonderful Chancel Choir, promoting our new Sunday School program which begins Sunday, Sept. 15, and hearing a message about hope. For the sermon, click here. See below for one of the pictures from our water bottle/welcome basket give away over the weekend. It was another fun way to bless our community!]
God of new beginnings, untie us from those forces in our world that would keep us from being who you have called us to be. Remind us to turn to you for hope when those forces are at work in our lives.
God of new beginnings, untie us from spiritual dryness that we experience from time to time. Remind us to turn to you for hope when we have lost our joy.
God of new beginnings, untie us from ourselves whenever we miss the opportunities you place before us to see you at work in our daily lives. Remind us to turn to you for hope when our focus is on ourselves rather than upon you.
O God, this is a time of new beginnings in our community and in our church. There is so much transition happening all around us with the beginning of a new school year. But with transitions, comes stress. The stress of meeting new people. The stress of finding our locker. The stress of launching new fall ministries in the church. The stress of trying to find a parking space.
O God, so much stress, but also a time of new beginnings for each and every one of us. Thank you for the woman from our Gospel reading who turned to you for hope. Thank you for offering your healing love to us and untying us from anything that would keep us from being the person you have called us to be.
And so on this Sunday, we thank you for the hope-filled signs and sounds of your presence that are all around us like a neighbor surprising us with a gift bag to brighten our day, like positive sidewalk chalk messages greeting us as we enter a church, like receiving a blessing as we begin a new school year, like suddenly realizing that God answered our prayer in a beautiful way.
God of hope, thank you for these and many other signs of your presence that untie us and help us to experience healing, wholeness, and a renewed joy in our lives. And now teach us to pray this prayer of hope that Jesus taught us to pray together saying…. “Our Father, who art in heaven…”
[These two servants prepared 14 welcome baskets which were hand delivered to each of our church’s neighboring fraternities/sororities during move-in week. The students in these houses are always very appreciative and surprised that our church would take the time to do this. We also handed out 300 water bottles to those walking by our church on Saturday. A big thanks to all who helped at our 5th annual water bottle give away!]
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