[Video to be added.]
Filled with the Holy Spirit, we join with the church in every place, praying for the world that God so loves.
A brief silence.
Lord of life, you baptize your people with the fire of the Spirit. Grace your church everywhere with your visions and dreams, so that as we testify, all will hear the gospel and call upon your saving name. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Your creating Spirit renews the face of the earth. Bring to birth new life in the earth’s landforms and waters. Awaken us from the slumber of neglect to show tender care for our home. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Your Spirit swept over the waters and you created the human family. Now we are divided, scattered like dry bones. Connect the nations with the strength of the Holy Spirit, so that all will live in hope. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Your Spirit sighs with every need. Guide us in honoring the dignity of everyone and opening our lives to others. Pour your healing mercies into the lives of all who need your care 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, Jane and anyone we name silently in our hearts, aloud in our homes or in the comments below. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Your Spirit has called and gathered this congregation into life in Christ. Help us in our weakness, teach us to pray, search our hearts, and intercede for us, your beloved saints, according to your will. 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. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
By the sure guidance of your Holy Spirit, O God, we lift up our prayers in trust and thanksgiving; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
This Grace That Scorches Us
A Blessing for Pentecost Day
Here’s one thing
you must understand
about this blessing:
it is not
for you alone.
It is stubborn
about this.
Do not even try
to lay hold of it
if you are by yourself,
thinking you can carry it
on your own.
To bear this blessing,
you must first take yourself
to a place where everyone
does not look like you
or think like you,
a place where they do not
believe precisely as you believe,
where their thoughts
and ideas and gestures
are not exact echoes
of your own.
Bring your sorrow.
Bring your grief.
Bring your fear.
Bring your weariness,
your pain,
your disgust at how broken
the world is,
how fractured,
how fragmented
by its fighting,
its wars,
its hungers,
its penchant for power,
its ceaseless repetition
of the history it refuses
to rise above.
I will not tell you
this blessing will fix all that.
But in the place
where you have gathered,
wait.
Watch.
Listen.
Lay aside your inability
to be surprised,
your resistance to what you
do not understand.
See then whether this blessing
turns to flame on your tongue,
sets you to speaking
what you cannot fathom
or opens your ear
to a language
beyond your imagining
that comes as a knowing
in your bones,
a clarity
in your heart
that tells you
this is the reason
we were made:
for this ache
that finally opens us,
for this struggle,
this grace
that scorches us
toward one another
and into
the blazing day.
—Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons
Go in peace, knowing you are loved. Knowing you are prayed for. If you need anything, please let us know.
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bellerose 