Annual Meeting Prayers for 2018

OPENING

God who calls us to be the church,

over the past year we have tried to live out that calling.

We have gathered to celebrate your presence

we have sung songs of faith: the old classics and the new tunes.

We have shared the old stories of faith,

hopefully both in ways that remind us of their familiarity and in ways that make us see them as if for the first time.

We have opened our hearts in prayer:

praying for ourselves, for those near to us and for brothers and sisters around the world,

sharing the hopes and joys, the anxieties and struggles of life

We have sought justice, we have tried to grow as people of The Way,

we have explored how you are active in our world and in our lives.

You have called us to be the church and we have tried to be the church.

God in whom we live and move and have our being,

over the past year you have shared our lives, as we have shared life with each other.

As part of that sharing we have welcomed these new members into the family of faith through baptism (read names)

we have also marked the death of members of this community, supporting their families in grief and change (read names).

In the new beginnings, and in the endings you are there, and we offer thanks.

God who calls us into the future,

as we meet and look back at the year that was may you celebrate with us,

as we meet and look forward into the years that will yet be

may you light the fires of hope and promise in our souls.

In the time to come push us to listen for your voice, whether it comes as a roar of thunder or in the stillness of silence.

God who calls us to be the church, as we meet, as we reflect, as we look forward,

remind us that we are your people, help us to live as people of the Kingdom.

We pray in the name of Jesus, the true head of the church, who teaches and lead us in the Way of Love.

Amen.

CLOSING

God in whom we love and move and have our being,

in this place today we have sung, we have prayed, we have eaten, we have met.

Now we go out to continue to live and serve.

As we go out we trust that you walk with us;

we pledge to live as those who serve,

we open ourselves to your transforming love.

May we always remember that we are not alone,

as we strive to be the church you have called us to be.

We pray in the name of Jesus, our teacher and guide, our rock and redeemer,

who we call Christ and Messiah.

Amen.