Family of God,
sisters and brothers,
Our Lord Jesus taught us to pray,
to ask God, to seek God,
to knock on God’s door.
Let us now do so.
Let us pray.
Lord Who Hears,
We give thanks to You
with our whole hearts;
let us hold nothing back
but expel everything in gratitude.
We ask that Your peace would be felt
throughout the world.
From the unrest in Hong Kong
to the civil war in Syria
to those experiencing unprecedented heat worldwide.
Use Your Church to provide,
to show them that You Hear.
Leader: Lord, in Your mercy,
All: Hear our prayer.
Lord Who Can Be Found,
We seek You in high places and low places,
Here in the midst of Your Family,
and elsewhere in the mundane of our daily lives.
We seek You knowing that,
when we do,
You love to show Yourself to us.
May we find You in unexpected places this week.
Show Yourself to the lowly and the esteemed,
to those who work and those who are looking for work,
to the outcasts and the insiders,
to those whose walk with You has never been better
and to those who hear Your name
and experience pain, doubt, and disillusionment.
Show Yourself to those who have
been acted upon by the malicious.
Victims of domestic violence,
of any kind of abuse,
of bad deals and unscrupulous business practices.
Even there, You can be found.
Show us You, in Your unbounded glory.
Show Yourself to those affected by mass shootings this week,
in California, in Texas, and Ohio
and in places that didn’t make the news.
Comfort the grieving, heal the injured,
and encourage the downtrodden.
Leader: Lord, in Your mercy,
All: Hear our prayer.
Lord Who Opens Doors,
Some of us find the door open with a single knock;
others have bloodied our knuckles to no avail.
Even so, Lord, we trust You,
to open Your door in Your time.
Give us patience where we need to wait,
and boldness where we need to step forward.
Open doors in our lives;
doors of healing for those who are sick,
doors of peace for those who are in turmoil,
doors of joy for those who are numb,
and the Doors of Heaven for those entering eternal rest.
Open Yourself to those among us in need.
May we be a people who declare Your goodness
to a world full of closed and locked doors,
that You might receive the glory
as we, Your Church, proclaim Your name.
All this we ask through Christ, our Lord. Amen.