Beloved Savior, we worship you,
and offer you our thanks and praise.
Let us gather our spirits
and center our minds
to acclaim you as Lord
and Lodestar of Our Lives.
Forgive us, O God,
for the everyday evils that we embrace,
for the casual sins and corruption
that we accept without question,
and claim as being beyond our power to deny.
Turn us, Blessed Jesus,
from avarice to abundance,
from contempt to civility,
cruelty to compassion,
and exploitation to encouragement.
Nourish us in faith and hope, Holy One,
and strengthen our hearts
with the bread of justice and truth,
and make us resolute in the practice of peace.
By your love, heal and restore us,
and create in us clean hearts, we pray,
and root us in the revolution of joy
You have implanted with us.
Spread the shelter of your wings over us,
O Reconciling One, O Comforting Spirit,
and draw into your embrace those for whom we pray.
Amen.
Photo: a window from Church of the Transfiguration, Lake St. Louis, MO.
God of power and glory,
we come before You
as dawn pulls back the curtain of night,
as we hear the call of our Savior
at the doors of our souls:
Spirit of God, enter, and guide us.
From the foundation of time
You have loved us, O God:
You have molded us as vessels of holiness
and honored us
by calling us into fellowship with all creation:
may we joyfully assent
and delight in your will.
We are bound together by your grace
and redeemed by your mercy,
blessed Jesus;
may we exalt You
with the works of our hands and hearts,
led by utmost devotion and joy.
Let us open our eyes
to see
the beauty of Christ
in every face-
in the hungry, the homeless, the imprisoned-
and persevere in love and deed
until all are secure, content, and at peace.
Let us jubilantly set our shoulders to the yoke of love,
taking up the works of holiness and redemption
that our Savior taught us to walk in,
singing songs of praise.
You know our hearts, O God:
forge within us
the bright flame of compassion
that we may welcome your Spirit of Healing within us.
Bend near, O Merciful One:
give us the courage and strength
to assent to your call to us,
and stoop to hear our prayers,
which we humbly place before You.
Amen.
