Holy God:
We thank you that your is revealed in this place--in song, in scripture, in symbol, in sacrament. Most especially, we see your glory in the faces of one another, in the constantly restored image of God reflected through those who have laid aside their lives so that they might be made more and more like him each day.
So many times, we have sought to understand ourselves, to establish an identity for ourselves. We wear many labels: rich or poor, black or white, married or single, young or old, outgoing or shy, simple or sophisticated, conservative or liberal, employed, unemployed, retired, Americans, Alabamians, parents, children, grandparents.
But none of these labels and the many, many more that we give to ourselves or others give to us define us or tell the true story of who we are. So we search. We search for what we are about, what are lives mean, who we really are.
Help us to find ourselves in you. You, who made us. You, who remakes us. You, who called us from the foundation of the earth, who knit us in our mother’s womb, who has seen every moment of every day of our lives, who has heard our cries in the night and the deepest yearnings of our souls, who will receive us into the arms of your mercy when we take our last breath.
You have called us to lay down our lives, to be crucified with Christ, to make our lives not about us but about him. And yet, you have loved us most. And you have promised that if we would lay aside our lives we would find them. You have warned us that all we do to find our lives would cause us to lose them.
We give ourselves to you. We find ourselves in finding you. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment