February 7th, 2021

Sheltering God, we long for the day when all people will live in justice, love and peace.

We confess that the ways of justice often sound foreign to our ears.

We ask your forgiveness.

We pray from the comfort of luxurious homes while others live in the cold without a roof.

We pray with bellies well fed and nourished when many go hungry.

Yet too easily we throw up our hands  – feeling helpless and hopeless,

carrying guilt, because we don’t know how to fix the troubles of our world.

So we pray, free us from guilt and move us to gratitude and generosity.  

Thank you for the warmth of our furnaces,     

the aroma of dinner and the security of solid walls. 

Thank you for MennoHomes and other agencies that work for justice by providing affordable housing. Continue to bless them in service to our communities.

Thank you for our government leaders, 

give them courage to serve the poor and not the popular.

            We give thanks for health care workers,

            Protect them as they risk their own health for the healing of others

            Thank you for teachers, and parents with students learning from home,

            For creative planning and perseverance in patience these past weeks

–  thank you.

            As many schools  re –open tomorrow may reunions be joyful,

may classrooms be caring,

                        And may kindness for our fragile humanity be shared by all.

Thank you for this congregation, 

for healing prayer offered for one another,

for kind words shared,

for support arriving at just the right time   … all of these are gifts shared in your body, and given by your spirit to build us up as your people.

A people who long for the day

when all people will live in justice, love, and peace.

Hear our prayers for our Households of Faith for this week.

We offer all our prayers including those not yet formed, in the name of Jesus. Amen