Tomorrow's Offering

Tomorrow we tackle John 11 and the raising of Lazarus--or, more appropriately, it tackles us. Tomorrow was also supposed to be Parent Dedication day, but circumstances have caused it to be rescheduled. Now I wish I had not made a PowerPoint slide for it last week. Oh well ... like the infamous saying goes, "I didn't lie. The truth changed."

As an added bonus, tomorrow night the Milligan Concert Choir will treat us to a concert at 6pm in the sanctuary.

Here is the prayer:

Prayers of the Church for Grandview
9 March 2008

Lord, like local weather men predicting Appalachian snow, we think we know what you’re going to do, but we don’t. We think we understand your ways, but we are continually surprised. We read your book. We study your history with humanity. We worship you, offering you the best our voices and talents can blend together to produce. We try to do things your Son modeled for us.

Despite all of this we still find ourselves kneeling at your feet, baffled by the pain, the suffering, and the evil that remain so much a part of our world. Disease and destruction, cruelty and killing, domination and degradation have become the chosen culture of our people.

Give us a share of your hunger to save, O God. Remind us of the sacrifices you made in order to become the light invading our darkness. Remind us of your ultimate goals and help us to be willing to make our prayers, our aspirations, and our hopes secondary to your great hope to gather all of creation under the mighty and tender protection provided by your wings.

Thank you for places like this, where we come together to acknowledge that you, indeed, are God, and that your ways are higher than ours. Thank you for this place where we can catch our breath and remember that you have called us to joy, peace, and patience. Give us these things as we straddle the daily chasm between the way things are and the way you have called us to live—picking up our crosses and trusting you with the consequences.

Our prayer list is known to you, and not just because of your great knowledge, but because we regularly mention it to you. Forgive us when we grow weary of praying for the same thing week after week. Renew our hope by showing us your power to heal sickness, to comfort the grieving, to strengthen the weak, to protect the vulnerable, to deliver the addicted, to give peace to the dying.

In the silence some of us will be praying for the same thing as last week. Lord, hear our prayers:

silence

Great are you God, and worthy of praise and honor and glory. We admire you for making us, for keeping us alive, and for calling us together to serve the world as a sign of your love, grace, and passion for humanity. And so we pray together, as you have taught us: