Tomorrow's Offering

The week is winding down and Sunday lurks. As you read this, I invite you to offer up a prayer for Jalal. Jalal is 30-years-old and in a coma at the JCMC. His mother needs your prayers as well. Some of you Grandview folks may remember Jalal. He was baptized just before I arrived at as minister. His mother used to own the only Middle Eastern restaurant I've ever seen in Johnson City.

Tomorrow's sermon continues the Advent theme of waiting. This one is less about waiting in time and space and more about waiting upon God's agenda. I'll be talking a good bit about the new movie The Golden Compass, which is not something I normally do. Most of my knowledge of this movie comes from reading articles (Christian and non-Christian) about it, but I did go to see it yesterday in order to confirm what I have read. Not being a big "fantasy" movie guy--or atheist--I wasn't terribly moved by it (big surprise, eh?).

Here is tomorrow's prayer:

Prayers of the Church for Grandview
December 9, 2007

God, gather us into your presence this morning and teach us. Teach us the enduring truths that swirl at the heart of our existence. Teach us what it means to live beyond the walls of our own skin, of our own villages, and of our own time. Teach us, through the example of your beloved Son, what it means to trade our tiny hopes and dreams for your timeless and universal dreams of justice, hope, and love for humanity.

You are great beyond description. Your humility makes you so. Your willingness to serve those whom you have made is an example that challenges us to rethink human purpose.

Forgive us when we clutch our pride, our desires, and our self-centered hopes in our hearts—attacking and dismissing those who threaten our tiny gods.

Forgive us when we use other people for our own purposes.

Forgive us when we imagine that what we do doesn’t really affect others.

Thank you for the example of faithful people, especially of Joseph—earthly father of our Lord and Savior—who, though not being the giver of life, was the protector of life and a steady rock and example. Thank you for his willingness to trust his life to you and to your purposes. His willingness to do so has changed our lives. Help us to stand in that same line of fidelity to you and your passion for people.

Lord, we have living examples of those who continue to pursue your dreams. Thank you for the missionaries we are blessed to support. Give the power of your Spirit to the Coleys, Freelands, Headens, McDades, Nyadors, Veals, Orths and to the Jacksons and Colemans as they prepare to go.

Thank you for the people on our prayer list and for the opportunity to serve them. Bless us as we minister to them. Bless the sick with healing, the weak with strength, those in harm’s way with protection, the grief-stricken with comfort and joy and a new vision of tomorrow, and give a peaceful death to those who are dying.

And because we are many gathered together, we bring our individual pains, joys, and challenges before you in the silence:

silence

The Lord’s Prayer