Holy God
Thank you for bringing us into this house of worship once again today. Thank you for the joy we feel as we share this hour with those we love. Thank you most of all, for the grace we feel here, the love you have extended to us, the welcome we feel simply because we are all loved by you and your grace swings the door wide open for all who enter. We thank you that this place is a sign of the love, the grace, and the welcome that you offer us in all times and all places, that your forgiveness is a banquet of joy and love to which we are continually invited.
We confess that we have often failed to accept your invitation. We’ve wanted to go our own way. We’ve needed to figure things out on our own. Either through our own misunderstanding or through the failed witness of others, we’ve often misunderstood what you are calling us to. We’ve run from you because we’ve thought that you were a hard task master, or that you wanted to make our live boring or lifeless. We’ve very rarely thought of the grace you’ve offered us as an opportunity to live lives of celebration and rejoicing, a banquet, a party celebrating your goodness and redemption.
So whether we’ve run away from your grace because wee wanted the life we could create for ourselves more than the life you have for us, or even if we’ve been good religious people who’ve been so stuck on following the rules and being good citizens that we’ve forgotten what it means to truly feast on your mercy, help us to enter your house with fresh love, fresh grace, fresh joy. Let the party of your grace begin.
Be with those who suffer. Make them know your closeness and bring them new life. Bless our enemies. Bless those who are far from your family.
Amen.
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