08-11-19

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS

August 11, 2019

A Prayer As We Gather For Worship: It has been a week since our nation was rocked by a wave of violence that betrayed your holy shalom, O Spirit of Life. A week ago, two events tore at the core of our souls, but the violence and death did not end. Parents grieve uncontrollably; youth find hope ripped from them; children are left orphaned. This is not what you intended, and in Jesus and in the voices of so many other witnesses of grace, you have provided us a clear path forward. It will require us to reevaluate and make confession, to relinquish and change. This is not about what we like, but what you demand. It cannot be about polls or votes. Instead, it needs to be about making real sacrifices for the sake of every human life. Those sacrifices must not be imposed upon a few, but shared by all. This can never be about those people or that city. It must be about us, the human family that currently needs healing. As we experience this Sabbath Day, allow for us to rest with you. Bring to us spiritual energy to be about the hard work necessary for all brokenness and division to be made whole. You are the One who has declared that all things have been reconciled unto you. We are part of all things and this is our moment to claim that truth. We might feel it necessary to ask you for patience, but maybe we should really ask for a firm shove forward. You have been patient, and it is our time to stop living in the grace of that gift. We ask this now in the name of the one who was and is love incarnate. Amen.

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