Day 145 | Tuesday, 11 August 2020

Day 145 - Audio Version

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 Day 145  |  Tuesday, 11 August 2020
 
A Call to praise:
“God, we praise you for summer sun and laid-back days, family vacations, or this year staycations, and leisurely mornings.

God, we praise you for fathers, mothers, children and all who make up our circle of love,

for friends who help us to wholeness, for the church, which gives us a taste of heaven, a glimpse of the kingdom.

God, we praise you with quiet deeds or with our voices raised in song.”

 A prayer of invocation:
“Precious God surround us with your presence so we may breathe deeply of this moment and discover a fountain of joy, a river of light, a stream of hope.
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Precious God, come in word and silence, in song and prayer, and lead us to the heights of glory.

Precious God visit us now with your peace and power that make all things new. Renew the earth and renew us by your grace. In Jesus we pray. Amen.”

 A prayer of confession based on:  Genesis 2:15-17
“Gracious God, you created us in your own image, set us in a garden filled with living creatures and instructed us to nurture and keep it. In the cool of the evening you came looking for us, but we hid ourselves from you.

Throughout history, you have continued to come to us, and we have continued to turn ourselves from you.

Help us to stop hiding from you. Let us stand before you now, acknowledging our temptations, seeking your sustaining presence and accepting your grace found in Jesus Christ. Amen.”

 An affirmation of faith:
“We believe in a bold God, Creator of splendor, spinning stars into night skies, warming the planet with life-giving sunshine, filling the earth with all creatures great and small.

We believe in a big God, Creator of 150 billion galaxies, who is big enough to receive our praise and loving enough to answer our prayer.

We believe in the risen Christ, who meets us in the brokenness of life, accompanies us on all our wanderings and forever seeks to welcome us home with open arms.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, guide and companion, who fills us with windy hope and fiery compassion.

We believe in the church, where we can taste some of the heavenly banquet and live as a renewed people for the world.”

 A Prayer:
“God of the wind that sweeps over the chaos of our lives, we thank you for the wind of your Holy Spirit. We thank you that by the power at work in us, you are able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine. We give thanks that by your Spirit you empower us to bear with one another in love, maintaining unity in the bond of peace.

We give you thanks, then, almighty God, that you call to us in grace and mercy, that you help our unbelief, that you empower us to be your people and your church. May we, as your people, lead a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called, believing that there is one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. Amen.”
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 A Blessing:
“Come to us, O God, especially when things get bad, and give us strength.  Don't let us be afraid. Fill us with renewed courage, spirit and voice, in the name of the triune God. Amen.”