GRIEVING WHAT MAY BE LOST – A Prayer for Many Voices

Note: Each paragraph will be read by a different pray-er, hopefully scattered throughout the worship space

OK God, I think we all know that something new has to come.
It has been too long waiting, we need a re-birth of our economy.
And yet we want it to be the same basic model,
an economy we know and find comfortable.
A new basis for how we work may leave some people behind,
it may mean that jobs we once took for granted no longer exist,
it may mean that new skills and new realities need to be learned.
And that frightens and worries us.
That fear and worry may blind us to the new birth that is possible.
God who creates and re-creates,
Open our hearts to the reshaping of our lives.


Ah God, as the years go by there have been so many changes.
Leaving home, getting married, having children, raising children.
With each change something new and wonderful has been added.
But with each change something else has been lost.
What changes lie ahead? What will I have to give up as I get older?
It is always a trade off I guess.
New in, old out. But sometimes I have to admit that I miss the old.
God who creates and re-creates,
Open our hearts to the reshaping of our lives.

The world is going to pieces around us, we echo the age-old lament.
What will the future bring? Will we recognize it?
Will we know how to adapt to it?
Old ways of communicating seem to be disappearing,
old rules about how to act are being ignored.
New ways are coming in, ways we don't understand.
As the new comes in will we lose too much of the old?
What will the cost be?
God who creates and re-creates,
Open our hearts to the reshaping of our lives.

What will the church look like 5 years from now?
Will it still be a part of our community? Will it still be relevant?
Is it relevant now for that matter?
Maybe we need to change how we are the church together.
But what will that changed church look like?
What hymns will we sing? Will the story still be told?
The church needs to be re-born. The church needs to change.
I can see that but it doesn't mean I have to like it!
God who creates and re-creates,
Open our hearts to the reshaping of our lives.

And the people all said amen. Amen.