For November 16 -- Upside Down Power

PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE
Compassionate God, Help us to to be compassionate,
binding up each other’s wounds, protecting the vulnerable among us.
Lead us to ‘commit’ empathy on a regular basis,
allowing other people’s pain and fear, hopes and dreams to touch our hearts,
allowing that sharing to shape our actions and attitudes.
Creating God, whose Beloved community is diverse and multi-hued,
help us build a community where of hope, one where
we may not be the same, we may often disagree, we may even fight,
but we ALWAYS act lovingly toward each other.
Gracious and Merciful God, when we miss the mark:
when compassion and empathy are lacking in our lives
when we fall prey to ‘us vs them’ language and forget the beauty of diversity
when we mistake gentleness for weakness, when we believe that might makes right
when we forget to love family, friend, neighbour and enemy as you first loved us
forgive us we pray
...time of silent prayer...
God’s power is shown in gentleness and weakness. God’s power is shown in grace and mercy. God’s power is shown in love. Through this power God reminds us that we are Beloved, that we are forgiven, that we are renewed to be God’s people
Thanks be to God. Amen.