Sunday's Offering

It's time for the annual Elders Retreat. That means I need to post this now, because I won't have time on Saturday.

We continue our series on the impact Jesus had on those who came into relationship with him. This week we will look at the difficulty the family of Jesus faced during his ministry. His life and his relationship with them must have been baffling to them.

Here's the prayer:

Prayers of the Church for Grandview
January 20, 2008

God, our Father, we assemble before you yet again in awe and reverence to worship you. Often we have felt like people on the outside, prevented from seeing your face because of the crowds around you. Often we have felt the best we could do was to send word to you through other people, people who were privileged to be close to you. But in your wisdom you have made one race out of all the races, one family out of all the families, one nation of priests out of misfits and foreigners.

Lead us, O God, from individualism and tribalism into the wideness of your mercy. In the short silence, remind us of the people we have failed to love and failed to forgive.

Lead us, O God, from the temptation to imagine that we can create you in our own image; a Jesus just as tall as us, just as narrow as us, just as limited as us. In the short silence remind us of the power of God in Christ.

Lead us, O God, from being insiders into being missionaries, going out from your presence to love, to invite, and to serve. In the short silence, show us the people you would have us hold dear.

Lead us, O God, from loyalties that are too small; from agendas that are undersized and inwardly focused; from plans made in our interests. In the short silence, if you will, show us the plans that you have made.

Lead us, O God, to minister to the needs of those on our prayer list. Help us to bring hope, joy, comfort, peace, protection, and healing as much as we are able. Even as we ask this, we are aware that when we do our best we still leave much in your hands. And so we ask you to be present in power and in peace.

Lead us, O God, to minister to the needs of our missionaries. Grant fidelity and strength to the Coleys, Freelands, Headens, McDades, Nyadors, Veals, Orths and to the Jacksons and Colemans as they prepare to serve you in places foreign to us, but known to you. Bless all who leave their homes and who practice the redefinition of family that you proclaimed to us in your Son.

We pray together as Jesus of Nazareth taught us: