Good and Gracious God,

You name us in many ways: you call us child, friend, pilgrim, creature, beloved. Who are we, small as we are, that you are mindful of us – that you number our days before us? O God, when you meet

In some way, we are wistfully certain that all the good gifts we carry come from you. The provisions that we have for our families, the shelter in which we can find rest, the friendships that make life worth living, the passions that stir our hearts to love this world even more deeply.

God, we give you thanks for the life that we have found. For the holy surprises that have shaken us awake when life has felt damp and lethargic. For some of us feel as though we are people waiting in darkness. Life, it turns out, has often not thought to follow the trajectory that we would have set for it. Dreams delayed. Security withheld. Time, too short.

Holy Spirit, set us ablaze with purpose. Crown the desires of our hearts that our yearning might always be pointed, in hope, towards you. And even when we must wait, when the fantasies of our futures don’t come to fruition, we ask that we might be kept restless. That even in our waiting, in our hoping, in our frustration, and in our doubts, that we might be transformed by that for which we yearn.

Heavenly Father, today we pray for those who are most vulnerable, and for those who have been elected to keep watch over them. We pray for the powerful. Might the organs of government be made to work for those who struggle instead of privileging those who already flourish. Watch over these elected leaders, for Eric, our Mayor, for Kathy, our Governor, and for Donald, our President.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus, and bring justice. And might the building of that Kingdom of that kingdom begin with us.

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.