O God, in this moment we bring our collective faith and offer the prayers that can only be prayed with the faith of a community.
We pray for the Universal Church, for its members and its mission.
We recognize that we are all part of one body
focused on bringing your image to bear in a world that has greatly distorted your image
and what it means to be human.
And just as your body is broken and blood is shed in the Eucharist,
so break us and pour us out for the sake of the world.
Draw your Church together, O God, into one great company of disciples,
Together following our Lord Jesus Christ into every walk of life,
Together serving him in his mission to the world,
And together witnessing to his love on every corner and every margin.
You hear us calling,
You hear us calling,
Abba Father
O God our Creator,
When you speak there is light and life.
When you act there is justice and love.
Grant that your voice may be in the mouths of those in authority,
and your actions may be present in the works of our government,
so that what we say and what we do as a nation would be filled with your Holy Spirit.
You hear us calling,
You hear us calling,
Abba Father
O God we thank you that you still walk through
our locked doors of fear, insecurity, and loneliness.
Just as you appeared to your disciples
and offered them your Peace, so grant us your Peace that passes understanding.
Just as you bore your wounds to your disciples,
grant us the courage required to be vulnerable with our own wounds,
that we might become agents of healing to one another.
Just as you breathed on your disciples,
inviting them to receive the Holy Spirit,
we ask that you would send us a Holy Wind:
a Holy Wind that dismantles us,
a Holy Wind that overrides barriers and opens communication,
a Holy Wind that signals your rule among us.
Lord have mercy,
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy,
Christ have mercy.
Hear again our prayers for the world.
Again we pray for what seems impossible:
Peace in places where war reigns.
An end to strife over boundaries.
Food for the hungry.
Shelter for the impoverished.
Understanding of differences between peoples.
Jesus, we believe you; all we heard is true.
You break the bread, and we recognize you.
You are the fire that burns within us;
Use us to light the world.
You hear us calling,
You hear us calling,
Abba Father
O God by the glorious resurrection of your Son, Jesus Christ
You have broken the power of death
And brought life and immortality to light;
Grant that we who have been raised with him
May triumph over all temptation
And rejoice in the hope of eternal glory
Lord have mercy,
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy,
Christ have mercy.
O God, Thank you for this place,
for the people who dreamed the vision of this sanctuary and this church.
We sit in chairs where others have sat in years past.
And we sit in chairs that will be filled in the future by those not yet born.
But for now we are the stewards of your grace in this time and in this place.
Help us to be good stewards of that grace,
shrewd managers of that grace,
and dedicated investors in the good news of your saving grace for the sake of others.
Open our hearts to your power moving
around us and between us and within us,
until your glory is revealed in our love of both friend and enemy,
in communities transformed by justice and compassion,
and in the healing of all that is broken.
All this we ask in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Lord have mercy,
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy,
Christ have mercy.