God with us, thank you for your presence in the dawn that comes every morning and in the darkest of our nights. There is no place we can go where you are not already present there. Open the eyes of our hearts to your grace that abounds each day and for all the ways you provide for us – enough strength and compassion, enough courage and kindness, enough faith and resilience.
We give you thanks for your son Jesus Christ,
for his sacrifice for us and for his teaching.
Help us to grasp resurrection; to understand its power,
to see its force at work in our world,
thawing the hatred within us, melting our hearts, birthing new life, transforming our human landscape.
As your disciples travelling the Emmaus Road, we too do not always recognize you;
Thank you that you walk with us in both the big events of our lives and the world,
and in the everyday events too.
Thank you that you are walking with your church,
as decisions are made, as safety protocols are implemented, as we discern leadership needs, and as we wrestle with what it means to be the church in this season of pandemic when we are not altogether. Through our very lives may we be witnesses to your healing presence, your reconciling presence, your ways of peace.
God with us, we thank you for your presence in doctor’s offices, clinics and hospitals. Thank you for your presence in classrooms, university residences, and places of business.
Thank you for your presence with the sick, with those at the moment of death,
and with those left behind to grieve. We hold in prayer those whose needs we carry deep in our hearts. We also pray for our households of faith: May their lives be filled to overflowing with love, peace, and relationships of support. We are grateful that we are not alone on this Emmaus Road.
Thank you for the ways your presence is revealed through the ministries of the House of Friendship: when the hungry are fed, when the homeless are provided shelter, when support and friendship is provided for those struggling with addiction.
Illuminating God, we wait for the moments where you are suddenly revealed
in the every day and painful moments of our lives,
where we say, wonderingly, “It is the Lord!”
Thank you for the times we catch sight of your kingdom come,
in the person of Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray…… Our Father