Sunday 1st February – Epiphany 4B

WE GATHER IN THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER
As followers of Jesus we gather
with our faith and our doubts,
our hopes and our fears;
perhaps remembering a moment or moments
in the past week
when we were aware of the intimate presence of the divine
whose name is love;
perhaps remembering a time
marked by a profound and dark absence of love.

We come as we are
because the One who invites us
will never turn us away:
(At this point, in worship, I quote the last verse
of Deirdre Browne’s song
‘Come as you are’, Hymn 693 in Together in Song)

We gather,
all of us yearning for healing in some measure
And so we gather
open to the mystery of grace,
the healer and bringer of wholeness,
which rejoices with those who rejoice and give thanks today
strengthens the weak and the lonely
and unites the many melodies and discords
of our separate lives into one holy harmony of worship.

We gather
listening for the voice of the Spirit of grace heard in Jesus,
to nurture within us the seeds of compassion
for all who suffer this day
and those we love;
that we may offer hope and healing in their lives.

In gathering round this table,
sharing in the gifts of God for the people of God
may our hopes and our spirits,
be deeply nourished, even healed,
and prepared for the week to come,
that our every task in every place may be holy. Amen
         Jeff Shrowder, 2015.

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