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The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster

Living God, friend of the world, mighty one,
We turn to you today, unshaken by doubt,
Your mercy unwavering.
You are beloved, our home and our rock.
Even as you dwell in hidden places,
We are lifted up by the knowledge of your presence.

On the days when we can only see as if through a glass darkly, we know that you hold us in trust, and lead us through the fog, our guide, the one to whom we confide our troubles.

On this Independence Day, we ask that you hold our nation under your sheltering wing.

You are protector of the poor, guardian of the orphans, the one who loves.

We pray for those who are unemployed and under employed, who find their way with coin cup and hand written sign to street corners in hope of the kindness of strangers, and equally we pray for those whose suffering remains hidden and beyond the public eye.

We pray for the places of power, where decisions are made.

You are our liberator God and we need your liberating guidance in the rooms where the determination of some means injustice for others.

You are sovereign over all the earth, the one who mothers the world into birth, the one in whom we find life:

We pray for this planet, for the ways in which human actions destroy. Place in our midst the possibility that such destruction may be ended, prevented, sustainably stopped.

Be with the birds, fish, creatures of the earth, microorganisms. On this Communion Sunday we ask that you abide in even the fruits and grains that give sustenance to all. You are our source and future, O God.

Protect us from ourselves. You are bread of life. Feed us. You are living water. Nourish us.

Turn us now to this table. Accompany us, O Christ. Today, transform us and these familiar things—bread and cup—in the same way you continually transform the world around us.

Bless bread and cup, wheat and grape, farmer and harvest, seed and sower. So that in sharing these simple elements, we might taste and see your goodness, and glimpse what it is to be in communion with you and with one another.

Through Christ, in Christ, with Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, most holy God, now and forever.