Good morning.
Today is Wednesday,
February 24,
2021.
O 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 bow down and worship.
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 dwell on any word or phrase that catches your attention or moves your heart,
And let your heart respond to God in prayer.
Please repeat these words.
Hear the cry of your children,
Lord.
Come quickly and set us free.
Our scripture today is John 6,
Verses 1-15.
Sometime later,
Jesus crossed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee,
That is,
Lake Tiberias,
And a huge crowd followed him,
Impressed by the signs he gave by healing sick people.
Jesus climbed the hillside and sat down there with the disciples.
It was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover.
Looking up,
Jesus saw the crowd approaching and said to Philip,
Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?
Jesus knew very well what he was going to do,
But asked this to test Philip's response.
Philip answered,
Not even with two hundred days' wages could we buy loaves enough to give each of them a mouthful.
One of the disciples,
Simon Peter's brother Andrew,
Said,
There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two dried fish.
But what good is that for so many people?
Jesus said to them,
Make the people sit down.
There was plenty of grass there and as many as five thousand families sat down.
Then Jesus took the loaves,
Gave thanks and gave them out to all who were sitting there.
He did the same with the fish,
Giving as much as they could eat.
When the people had eaten their fill,
Jesus said to the disciples,
Gather up the leftover pieces so that nothing gets wasted.
So they picked them up and filled twelve baskets with the scraps left over from the five barley loaves.
The people,
Seeing this sign that Jesus had performed,
Said,
Surely this is the prophet who was to come into the world.
Seeing that they were about to come and carry him off to crown him as ruler,
Jesus escaped into the hills alone.
Please repeat these words.
Hear the cry of your children,
Lord.
Come quickly and set us free.
On Wednesdays,
We pray for our communities.
So I invite you now to picture your community,
Whatever community your imagination lands on.
Let the spirit of God lead you to who you need to pray for today.
Perhaps it is a church community or a neighborhood or maybe a school.
But whatever community you are led to lift up before God,
Please do so in this space.
Don't worry about diagnosing your community's need or telling God what to do.
Just hold this group of dearly beloved people before the Lord.
May the light of Christ go before us and behind us,
Beneath us and above us,
On our right and on our left.
When we rise and when we lie down,
May the light of Christ be with us.
May the light of Christ be in us.
We pray in the name of Jesus who taught us to pray.
Our Father 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 hallowing 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.
With 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.
God our Savior,
Jesus our Redeemer,
You hear our cries.
You hear our cries and you heal our bodies and forgive our sins.
Thank you.
Thank you for your love.
May we turn to you over and over again and be healed.
Body,
Mind,
And spirit.
Amen.
And now my friends,
May the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ go with you wherever he may send you.
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 my friends.
