O God, even before we entered our church building this
morning, we have already had many opportunities to worship you throughout this
past week;
…when we took a walk through a beautiful canopy of changing
autumn leaves, when we met over lunch to get to know a member of the church,
when we began our day with prayer and a scripture reading, when a family said
the Lord’s Prayer together around the bedside of a loved one who is receiving
hospice care, and when the good news of a doctor’s report led us to say, “Yeah,
God!”
O God, thank you for these many ways throughout the week
that we are invited to worship you even before we hear the first note of the
opening hymn during Sunday worship. May every moment be a time to be aware of
your presence and offer you our worship and praise.
Help us to be like Job who was a person of great faith, but
who also was willing to be honest when he did not sense your presence. Be with
us during those times when we are at a loss for words as to why bad things
happen. Remind us that you we can trust you even when we don’t have all the
answers.
Thank you for giving us this church where it’s OK to doubt
and wrestle with our faith, and where we can be ourselves and not pretend to
have a stronger faith than what we really have. While we would rather echo the
Psalmist who said, “The Lord is my shepherd,” sometimes our faith leads us to
join another Psalmist who said, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me.”
We pray for those who may be going through a difficult time
in their lives. Surround them with your loving presence. May they be reassured
that nothing can ever separate them from your great love in Christ Jesus, our
Lord.
Thank you for the many ways that our church reaches out to
people in need, through Monday lunches, through the Kairos prison ministry, through Stephen Ministry, Sunday School classes,
small groups, music teams, outreach ministries with our university, and prayer
gatherings. O God, in all these ways, you are helping us to trust you in the
good times as well as the bad times.
Even now, we seek to trust you by praying a prayer that
Jesus taught his disciples to say together,
“Our Father, who art in heaven…”
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