Most holy God,
you who are our good news,
you who are the prisoners’ release,
you who are the glad dance of the weary,
you who are the beginning and the fulfillment;
Our prayers are not celestial hymns or heavenly speech, but
these words bear our hearts, our hopes, our meditations. Have mercy.
You are grace beyond reason, power beyond imagination,
and beauty beyond compare. We worship you.
By your grace,
help us love one another.
By your grace, draw close to those
who need you. By your grace,
use our talents — use us
for your purposes.
By your power,
grant us courage to walk
the difficult but necessary paths.
By your power, heal us —
for we war and rage,
bleed and die.
By your beauty,
overwhelm us with delight.
By your beauty, awe us to humility.
By your beauty, pour your favor
over this burdened earth
until all are healed.
In community and in crisis, with words and with silence,
bind us together and bind us to you — for we are
lost without you and we are broken without
one another. Until it is finally finished,
we bless you: Amen, amen.