Good morning.
Today is Wednesday,
March 31st,
2021.
Oh Lord,
Let my soul rise up to meet you as the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to God,
The three in one,
Creator,
Redeemer,
And sustainer.
As it was in the beginning,
Is now,
And will be forever.
Amen.
Come,
Let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the Lord,
Our Maker.
Remind yourself that you are in God's presence.
Notice how God may be speaking to you today.
Let yourself simply dwell on a word or a phrase that catches your attention or moves your heart.
And let your heart respond to God in prayer.
Please repeat these words.
Jesus,
You are the light of the world.
Open our eyes that we might see.
Our reading today comes from John 17.
After Jesus said this,
He looked toward heaven and prayed.
Abba,
God,
The hour has come.
Glorify your only begotten that I may glorify you.
For you granted me authority over all people that I might give eternal life to all those you have given to me.
Now,
This is eternal life that they know you,
The only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.
And now glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you when the world began.
I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.
They were yours.
You gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.
Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.
My prayer is not for them alone.
I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be one.
Just as you are in me and I am in you.
May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
I have given them the glory that you gave me that they may be one as we are one.
I in them and you in me so that they may be brought to complete unity.
Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Abba,
God,
I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory.
The glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
Righteous Abba,
God,
Though the world does not know you,
I know you and they know that you have sent me.
I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.
Please repeat these words.
Jesus,
You are the light of the world.
Open our eyes that we might see.
I invite you now to hold someone's name before God.
Whoever the Holy Spirit leads your mind to in this space,
Hold before God in prayer.
You can repeat the person's name over and over with your voice or in your mind,
Or just hold this person silently in your heart.
Don't worry about diagnosing the person's need or telling God what to do.
May the light of Christ go before you and behind you,
Beneath you and above you.
On your right and on your left,
When you rise and when you lie down,
May the light of Christ be with you.
May the light of Christ be in you.
In the name of Jesus who taught us to pray.
Our Father which art in heaven.
Eternal God,
Earth maker,
Pain bearer,
Life giver.
Source of all that is and all that shall be.
Not only father but mother of us all.
May the Halloween of your name,
Echo through the universe.
May the way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world.
May your heavenly will be done by all created beings.
May your Commonwealth of peace and freedom,
Sustain our hope and come on Earth.
May the bread we need for today feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another,
Forgive us.
In times of temptation and test,
Strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure,
Spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil,
Free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
Now and forever.
Amen.
Jesus,
You are the resurrection and the life.
Lord,
We believe.
Help our unbelief.
Give us hope.
Give us life.
Amen.
And now my friends,
May the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ go with you wherever he may send you today.
May he guide you through the wilderness,
Protect you through the storm.
May he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you.
May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.
Go in peace.
