How grateful we are, O God, to call on your name.
Morning and evening, noon and night,
you are our comfort and our confidence.
We reach out to you when days are hard.
We lean on you when memories break our hearts.
We smile at you when life is amazingly good.
We are fools for you, O Christ: giddy at your grace,
restless for your love — and you too are the fool,
seeking us relentlessly and at any cost.
Through cities and across mountains, you pursue us.
In our seasons of birth and death, you greet us.
In your seasons of anger and impatience, still you stay with us.
Truth be told: you confound us, Holy Spirit, but perhaps
we would not have it any other way. Surprise us
with beauty amidst devastation, joy amidst challenge.
Take us beyond ourselves to the grace of community,
where work and dreams are shared, where no one
is alone in their sorrow or hidden by their delight.
By God’s name we are called,
by Christ’s name we are known,
by the Spirit’s name we continue. Amen.