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God of mystery and miracles,
Your Word brings light into the dark places of our lives;
Your presence gives us strength to endure
when we are pushed beyond our own strength.
You find us in our lostness and,
with love beyond our imagining,
you lead us home.
All this you offer in and through Jesus Christ.
Yet, we resist you.
We resist loosening our tight grip on our lives.
We hesitate to trust you
for you may lead us where we do not want to go.
You know the places in our hearts
and in our minds
where we are well-defended
against your intrusions.
In this season of longing,
grant us grace to bring all that we are to you, O Christ
— all the broken places
— all the lost wanderings
— all the weariness from trying to live lives that are pleasing to you.
Hold them all in the fullness of your love.
Then, be born in us,
that we may find our home,
our life,
our joy
in You, Lord of light and love.
Christine Jerrett, minister in the United Church of Canada
______________________
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you!
As when fire sets twigs ablaze
and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
and cause the nations to quake before you!
For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?
All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have given us over to our sins.
Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord;
do not remember our sins forever.
Oh, look on us, we pray,
for we are all your people.
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