Lord, we hear you in all the music of our lives, and we come to you now in gratitude that you have gathered us. Here in this community to seek and serve you by serving each other. We call on you now to fill our hearts with the song of your presence. 

Creator God, connect us to your joy as we delight in the bursting forth of springtime around us. Help us hold lightly to this precious planet, taking no more than we can return, trusting that renewal is possible while we act boldly towards a climate where all can thrive. 

God of all life, your people are hurting. We mourn and we call on you to comfort us. We come to you, poor in spirit, asking you yet again to give us the vision of your kingdom on earth. Remind us, oh Holy One, that your kingdom expands beyond our definition of us versus them. It extends beyond our differences, our politics, where we come from or what language we speak. Come into the gaps in our lives – in our disagreements, in our fears, in the rifts in our relationships or places in our bodies in need of healing. Come to where we see only scorched earth and be for us a spring in the desert. 

We want to be your peacemakers, God, but sometimes we cannot agree on how. Help us to see beyond our own way of thinking, help us to protect the rights of all our political expressions so that we may be fierce and respected in our loving criticisms of injustice that we see. 

We are not meant to be witness to so much death and grief and violence – violence in Sudan, in Ukraine, in Israel and Palestine. Violence against children, teenagers, against the rights and bodies of women and LGBTQ people. We hunger for your presence and thirst for your justice. Help us know how to act, and how to pray, when our health and wholeness are under fire. 

God in your mercy, we know you are the one who weeps when we weep. So grieve with us, let tears flow that are stuck, slow those that overwhelm. Replace each tear with your living water. Oh holy comforter, meet us where we are hurting today.

And help us especially to be the body of your church as we pray with our voices and our singing, with our worship and our resources, and also with our hands and feet. Let our prayers not be in vain, but be blessed by the holy gift of your presence here and all days. 

We ask all these things in the name of your Son, who taught us to pray, saying together… 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.