In the safe shelter of this sanctuary we lift our hearts to you O God, the one in whom we live and move and have our being. We give you thanks for this day, for sunshine and the heat, the summer warmth, and the green verdant earth. Awake to the fullness of life, we ask that you enlarge our vision, that you open us to what is here in our midst, that you stir to life something we might otherwise have missed. In our searching, sometimes we retreat from the daily rhythms of life, wondering if what we look for is still yet far off, and then we realize that what we seek had been there all along, found within, found at home, in that deep down place. Evoke that sense of home within us, O God. Slow us down. Give us the comfort of our true selves, person to person, meeting one another fully alive to this day.
Today our hearts are full as we celebrate the return to school. For the college students who walk across campus, meeting deadlines and finding their way to new extracurriculars. For the kindergartners, the day long and the crayons sharp, sparking creativity and friendship. For the fourth graders who know the comfort and rhythm of friendship, and who are finding the gift of personal achievement and internal motivation. We hold dear those who feel the challenge of conflict, pressure, and competition in a new way. For the sense of belonging that can feel tentative at the beginning of the year. For the blank slate of a fresh start and a new notebook. For the workload. For resilience. For mentors who can help hold focus when pressure mounts.
We turn to you O God, in response to the central questions of human life. In every kind of suffering, we bring our burdens to you. For financial hardship and the basic needs that must be met. For physical limitations after illness and injury. For the mental anguish that comes unbidden. For isolation and loneliness. For anxiety. For grief. God we ask that you hold it all. That you bear it with us. That you bear us up. Be our buoy. Let us find a way toward thriving. Let us find a way toward hope.
For the world in places of war, let there be a way toward peace. In places of change, let there be wise and grounded leadership. In places of conflict, let there be voices of hope who can find a way through, a way through for the most vulnerable, the least, the lost, and the lonely to whom Christ draws near.
God hear our prayer. And turn us toward your table of love. Bless bread and cup. Let your spirit pour forth. And hear us as we pray the prayer Jesus teaches us: Our Father…. Amen.
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