REsources for September 27, 2020 -- Proper 21A

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God of the wilderness, you lead us through the deserts of our lives.
Even though we complain and grumble at times,
even though we sometimes doubt that you are there,
even though we are often sure we have a better plan.
God of the wilderness, as we travel through this time of challenge and chaos,
guide us, sustain us, listen to our concerns and complaints.
God of the wilderness, when our unmet needs make us grumpy, when they blind us to your presence,
open our eyes, give us what we need, slake our thirst.
God of the wilderness, as we grumble and complain, as we express our fears and anxieties and thirsts,
hear the pain and longing beneath them, and forgive our complaining and ill-manners, we pray.
The God who leads us into the wilderness walks with us on the way. God hears our cries and complaints and concerns then provides abundant sustenance to meet our needs. Then God calls us to keep following along the way. With Grace and Mercy, God calls us to journey with God to the Promised Land.
Thanks be to God. Amen.

COMMISSIONING:
God has led us this far in the wilderness of life.
God will continue to lead us as we continue the journey.
God has sent us springs of water in surprising places.
May God continue to shatter the rocks of the world for our support.
Go with God, who protects, guides and sustains us always.
We are not alone! Thanks be to God.

 

Resources for September 20, 2020 -- Proper 20A, 16th After Pentecost

 

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE

Guiding God, you lead us into the wilderness, with a promise of new life on the other side.
And to be honest we are not always willing to go.
We mourn for what we leave behind, what we have lost.
We want to go back to the comfortable, the known, the familiar.
Gracious God, in this COVID-tide season,
we carry grief and anxiety, we wish we we could go back to a more comfortable place.
Feed and sustain us in our desert time, we pray.
Hear our cries and share our grief.
Then when the time comes lead us into a future with a mix of familiar and new ways of being
Gracious God, when we chafe against the changes and chances of life,
strengthen us, embolden us, and forgive our doubting that this is the path of promise.
...time of silent prayer...
In Grace God leads us into the wilderness, in Grace God sustains us in the wilderness, with Grace God hears our griefs and complaints and anxieties in the wilderness.. Still God leads us into the future, sharing a promise of life renewed.
Thanks be to God! Amen.

COMMISSIONING:
As our worship concludes, we go out into the world to live and love and serve.
We carry with us our hopes for the future, but also our grief for what we have lost.
In the midst of hope and fear and grief and possibilities we meet God,
the one who continues to sustain us, the one who feeds with us in the desert.
And so we can share the promise that there is hope beyond the grief, even if we can’t go back to where we once were.
Thanks be to God who leads and sustains us into a new way of being.

A PRayer for Courage (to go with the Exodus 14 and the crossing of the Sea)

HI God. You know something? Sometimes we feel overwhelmed.
There is something coming that threatens our well-being and in front of us is something blocking our path. And we feel trapped.
We get afraid. We don’t know what to do next.
We need your help.
Then you tend to ask us to take a risk, to step out in faith, trusting that the path will appear.
To be honest, we aren’t always sure we can do that.
And so we pray for courage when the world is rough.
Strengthen us, embolden us, help us jump into the water.
Help us trust that the sea will part, that the path will emerge,
and that we can find ourselves freed from captivity.
God made known in Jesus, God who calls us to take those first small steps.
We pray, we offer our thanks, and we keep stepping forward, traveling along with you. Amen.