Trusting God’s promise of new life, we pray for the renewal of the church, the world, and all of creation.
A brief silence.
Send your Holy Spirit upon your church. Awaken in us renewed commitment to our baptismal promises: to build community, to worship together in creative ways, to share our faith, to serve others, and to work for justice and peace. God in your mercy. Hear our prayer.
Forgive us for the ways we have caused creation to suffer. Inspire creativity as we explore new ways of reducing our consumption of earth’s resources. Restore forests and waterways. Replenish the habitats of all endangered and threatened species. God in your mercy.
Hear our prayer.
Make your home among us and shelter us from storms of death, mourning, crying, and pain. Draw near to those who weep and to those who are lonely. Restore health and wholeness to those who suffer especially Peter, Laura, Kathy, Susan, Tom S. Bob, Joe I., Jennifer, Kara, Rosetta, Franco, the family and friends of Marie, Charlie, the family and friends of Dorothy Correll, Zenaida, Daniel, the family of Marsenna Rentel, the family and friends of Charles Kuttler, and anyone we name silently in our hearts, aloud in our homes, or in the comments below. God in your mercy. Hear our prayer.
For those in pursuit of recovery and perseverance in the midst of the Coronavirus. We pray for all essential workers in New York City and around the world who continue to work and put their own wellbeing on the line to help us face this crisis. We pray for doctors, nurses, first responders, researchers, law enforcement, caregivers, sanitation and maintenance workers, and all working to combat COVID-19. Be with those who work in service and restaurant professions, those keeping stores stocked and making at home deliveries, for teachers both at home and online working tirelessly to give our children an education in the midst of crisis. We pray for those who transport goods to the places that need them, provide them with what they need along the journey. Keep them safe, keep them healthy, and help us to find ways to provide them with the supplies that they need to do their jobs well. We ask that you continue to be with employers and employees who are struggling to figure out how to keep things going during this time. Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
You promise new life for all the faithful departed especially Dorothy Correll, Marsenna Rentel, and Charles Kuttler. Renew us in faith and hope until the day death is no more, when you will dwell with us in the new heaven and earth. God in your mercy. Hear our prayer.
We commend these and all our prayers to you, O God. Come near to us with your saving help, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. Amen.
BLESSING WITH MANY ROOMS
As you step inside
this blessing
we wish to tell you
it is large enough
for you to lie down in.
Or
(though it may not look it,
small as it is upon this page)
you can curl up
in this blessing
with a cup of tea
and a good book
beside the window—
here, just behind you—
that faces east.
Likewise it is true,
though you might not have
paused long enough
to notice,
that this blessing
is big enough
for a table—
quite a sizable one
can be accommodated—
where your guests
will want to linger
far into the night.
And if they desire to stay,
you will find that
through this door—
you did not see it before?—
there are rooms in plenty
where they can
lay their heads
and stretch out with abandon
in their dreaming sleep.
One room,
many rooms—
in this blessing
it is all the same.
The point is that
there is space
enough.
Enough to make
a life, a home;
enough to make
a world.
Enough to make
your way toward
the One who has made
this way for you.
—Jan Richardson
The Painted Prayerbook
Used with permission from the author.
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bellerose 