God of justice.
When there seems to be no way,
You provide a way.
You open avenues for us
“For such a time as this.”
Give us the courage to speak up
when our voices need to be heard.
To lend our tongues on behalf of those
who cannot speak for themselves.
To, like Esther, expose the corruption of this world
and call forth salvation, redemption, and resurrection.
Let our hearts be set alight with a Holy Fire
to call out injustice where we see it,
and work with passion
to bring restorative justice wherever we might.
May we be an unpredictable fire of healing
in a cold and calculated world.
Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
God of forever.
It is so easy to get swept up in the now.
In the daily struggle,
in the planning for today, for tomorrow,
the next year, the next five years.
Grant us eternal perspective.
Let it be the engine behind our choices
in the day-in-day-out.
May we revel in Your eternal present
and begin to grasp Your unbounded now.
Let us not fall prey to pragmatism,
to ruthless arguments "for the greater good."
Instead, like the sequoia, let us put our roots
down deeper still into Your eternal earth,
so that we may grow impractically tall,
a towering testament to Your truth.
Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
God of mercy.
So many of us have re-lived suffering this week.
Personal, private, painful.
Wounds we’ve borne privately in silence
have been loudly reopened in public spaces.
Comfort us in our grief.
Bless those among us who are
making it through the day and calling it a victory.
Bring hope and practical comfort to those
in the Carolinas whose homes are still underwater
and those grieving after natural disasters in Indonesia.
And yet, even in the midst of this, we have joy.
Let us rejoice with those who rejoice.
Let us bear joyful witness to Your goodness.
Let us be a family that uplifts our members
and does not cause stumbling.
So that we may be at peace with one another.
All this we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lord have mercy,
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy,
Christ have mercy.