Welcome to our online worship service- Sunday, March 29, 2020

(adapted slightly from  Slats Toole, shared on Facebook, used with permission)

Everlasting God,

we come to you with words

we come to you with songs

we come to you with sighs

we come to you with our selves,

our whole selves

which are hurting

and anxious

and confused

and grateful

and bored

and sometimes just too many things at once.

All our jumbled thoughts and feelings cry to You,

screaming out in different tones and colors,

longing for You.

You are the rock that steadies us.

You are the refuge that keeps us safe.

You are the water that give us life.

You are the Spirit that surrounds us even now.

When we cannot see each other face to face,

You still bind us together

with cords that cannot be broken.

You assure us that neither life nor death,

nor angels or rulers or things present or things to come

or any pandemic or disease can separate us from Your love for us in Christ Jesus.

We are united in our gratitude

for all those who are working on the front lines,

from healthcare workers to janitors to grocery store workers.

We are united in care for those businesses we love

who have to close their doors,

for the millions of people who have lost jobs and income,

for everyone who has been barely holding on,

who are now falling into their own personal states of emergency,

for those who already could not make ends meet,

who now see no way out.

We are united in our hope

for a way forward in this wilderness,

for testing opportunities and enough equipment to go around,

for scientists to find a cure,

and for all of us to find ways to live safely

in these days like no other we have ever experienced.

We are united in our concern

for all those who are sick,

with COVID-19 or anything else,

all those who cannot access care

all those who don't have enough symptoms to get a test,

all those who are trying to manage their physical or mental health.

We pray as a united community

and we also pray as individuals in our own homes,

with our own needs,

our own fears,

our own joys.

We lift these prayers to You now.

[Silence to pray for whatever is on your heart this day]

Hear us as You heard Jesus,

in our weeping and our words

in our songs and our sighs,

in all the ways we call to You.

Even while we remain apart,

we join all our prayers together in the one Your Son taught us,

saying...

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts,

as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but

deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power

and the glory, forever.

Amen.