Brothers and sisters,
because we have the Hope of Heaven,
like the Apostle Paul and Timothy,
we pray unceasingly:

We pray for those among us who suffer
from lack, from unemployment,
from sickness, from grief.
We pray for those among us who rejoice
for bounty, for provision,
for health, for peace.
We pray for those among us
who are numb to Your world
and all its beauty and terror.

Wherever we are,
revive and refresh us,
so that we, Your church,
may bear witness to Your grandeur.

Leader: Lord, in Your mercy,

All: Hear our prayer.

In Your decadent, irresponsible love,
You call herdsmen to prophesy,
Gardeners to speak truth to the powerful.
You point us toward Heathens who embody You
more faithfully than the Holy.
Let us embrace these examples.

Let us live as people in exile
who see the enemy, the foreign,
the stranger, and the alien
and run toward them
and not away.
Rather than see Your world
as barren and limited,
let us see it as it is:

full of abundant possibility and promise,
so that we may live
faithful, exilic lives
that speak a resounding rebuke
to a world full of fear.

Leader: Lord, in Your mercy,

All: Hear our prayer.

O God, one of the many things we learn from the Cross
is that we win by losing;
by laying down our lives for our neighbors,
by loving our enemies, turning the other cheek,
going the extra mile, and praying for our persecutors.
Let us carry this Holy Loss into our world.
Lives are at stake, but Babylon will not save us.
Only You will.

Let this Sanctuary body,
and Your Church at large,
be the hope of the world.
Let the investments of our
energy, time, emotions, and resources
reflect that conviction.

We know we never leave Your sturdy Hand.
Remind us of Your faithfulness now,
as we add our own prayers and petitions,
either silently or aloud.

[Silence]

All this we ask through Christ, our Lord. Amen.