O Creator God, as we gather for worship outdoors this morning we choose to give praise and thanks in worship for the beauty that we see and sense all around us. We give thanks for the music of birds, the freshness of the breeze, the beauty of sunshine reflecting off water, the gift of green grass and trees, and all of creation including all of humanity. Thank you for creating with wisdom, grace, and joy.
In praise we rejoice with David “Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.3 For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; 7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.”
We praise you Lord!
We give thanks for the body of Christ and joy in the fact that as a body we can care for each other. You remind us to rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn, and you call us to carry each other’s burdens and serve each other in love. Sometimes you lead us to pray for those in our world whom we have never met, however, this morning we choose to focus on those in this community of believers.
O God, we give you thanks for your sustaining grace and presence in the lives of those who grieve all forms of loss, and especially those who have experienced the death of a loved family member.