005

lord, we are a people deeply in need of you.  though we do not always know it, our bodies and our souls, our hearts and our minds ache for you.  we want more of you.  we want to know you more and we want to be different people as a result of that knowledge.  we want to live your love--your love that is gracious, that is gentle, that is patient, that is generous, that is mighty, and your love that is faithful.  

father, we pray that you would pattern our days according to your will.  we pray that how we choose to spend our days and devote our time would be in correlation with the truth and the life you have offered us.  

this morning, we pray that our lives would be open to the words [     ] will speak.  that, when we leave this place and these walls, we would not forget you.  we pray that we would be a changed people who live and love more like jesus.  amen.  

004

father, we gather this morning as people with various realities.  each of us carries a different burden.  each of us has tried to manage our burdens, our messes, our flaws, and each of us has come up wanting.  

but lord, you know us and you know what burdens us, and you have made a way for us.  we pray for the words [     ] would speak over our lives this morning, that they would lead us to know more fully, your truth and your freedom.  

we pray that, in gathering together, we would be formed into people who live and love more like jesus.  we pray this in your holy and enduring name.  amen.  

003

lord, we gather this morning as a people in search of you.  we come to you as people who have been deceived, and who have allowed ourselves to be deceived.  we come as people in need of the gift of discernment, as people who are deeply in need of you.  come near to us.  father, we pray you would allow us to see our neighbors not just as ourselves, but as you see them.  as intricately designed, lovely, complex humans worthy of love and respect and dignity.  guide us to do justice through acts of generosity and offer love that is self-sacrificial, because we know that those are the ways of the kingdom, and we desire to bring your kingdom near.  we pray for the words [      ] will offer this morning, that they would do work to shape us into the people who live and love more like your son.  we pray these things in jesus’ name.  amen.