CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
Loving Lord, when we were toddlers learning to walk we grabbed onto the hands of loving parents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters — anyone who promised to help us stay upright on our feet. Instinctively our goal was to walk and run without help. Though, advised and warned, through our formative years, to make wise choices and to follow healthy paths, mistakes were inevitable and we want to say that we learned from them. We confess that only in hindsight do we recognize how you have always been close at hand, promising to help us get back on our toddling feet each time we have tripped, stumbled and fallen. With a sigh of relief we say: Thank you in the name of the one whose footsteps lead us in paths of righteousness for you name’s sake, even Jesus Christ our savior, redeemer and friend. Amen.
PREPARING FOR THE OFFERING
My office is an interesting place to visit. The desk is always cluttered, with papers, photos, pens and post-its. Every inch of wall, floor and ceiling space provides a spot for some important treasure: a antique prayer bench embroidered by my aunt and repaired by Roger Holder, the coat rack with my robes and stoles, boxes of historic church documents, pictures and souvenir posters from South America dating back to 1973, crosses from Chile, Guatemala, Russia, Mexico, Palm Desert and Desert Hot Springs; angels and stuffed animals —some that sing— others that herald a holiday, pottery chalices and patens sculpted by a friend who died in 2005. When I look at these treasures, they remind me of adventures shared and lessons learned. The treasure is the memory stirred by the object not the object itself. Let your offering to the church stir in you a memory of important lessons learned and marvelous things accomplished in the name of the Christ.
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