Morning Prayer

I serve as liturgist in our worship service once a month. This is the prayer I wrote for today:

Heavenly Father,

We come to you once again, heavy laden with our sins and guilt, knowing the weight of all that we carry. We come to you a weary people, seeking your forgiveness and mercy.

We come to you this morning, and know of your presence. We know that you have freed us from our sin and redeemed us from ourselves. We come to you a forgiven and freed people.

Thank you, God, for the surety of your love of us. Thank you for the relief of your forgiveness.

We pray this morning for our brothers and sisters who have found themselves in the path of the storm.

• For those staggering in the aftermath of a hurricane named Ike. Help us to respond, Father, so that they can find recovery and relief.
• For those facing the storm of illness and of loss among us. Use us as your church, so that you can touch them with our hands.
• For those seeking guidance and healing. We pray that you will be for them an ever present help, brining wholeness.

The storms are many, Lord — hunger, pain, illness, anger, loneliness, and mourning. We pray today that our church might be shelter in the downpour. We ask for you guidance — your leadership — as we struggle to be the church in your world.

Give us hearts that will forgive, hands that will reach out, minds that will seek to solve problems with creativity and justice, feet that will walk into the problems and situations of others. Give ears to hear each other and eyes to find your presence in the world. We ask that your spirit will be among us, and that you will inhabit our prayers as we say together... (the Lord's Prayer)...

Image: Sky on the way to Oakland last week.