My next post was due to be a follow-up on the blight conversation, but I wrote this for a mid-week Lenten service and thought I’d go ahead and drop it in here. It was recited together by the liturgist and the congregation.
God of grace and glory,
We gather together in your presence in this holy season,
aware of our brokenness,
confessing how easy it is to make idols of earthly things.
For this we repent.
We seek to set aside all that separates us from you.
We want to risk forgiveness of one another and
forgiveness in the fullness of your mercy.
Help us to hear and to see.
Help us to live in the blessed assurance of faith,
without illusion.
We gather together and open our hearts to your presence.
Knowing we are forgiven.
Knowing we have work to do.
Knowing that through you we dwell in grace and freedom
even when we struggle to feel it.
We thank you for this day and
this place and
these people.
We lift this vast, beautiful, and broken world up to you
as we praise your holy name.
Amen.
What the Heart Holds 