During the prayers, when you hear the words God of the Outstretched Hand, please respond with, "Hear our Prayers"
Gentle God, we greet you with deep gratitude for this time together, this community of faith, and this place where we live.
We feel at last the warmth of summer surrounding us, as the sun touches our skin... as it sparkles on water...as it enlivens the rich colours around us... and creates the magic of the rainbow. We watch as the nourishing heat transforms our gardens, turning spindly seedlings into vigorous, healthy plants. Once again, we are awed by the process of growth, the magic of change.
As the sun nourishes our gardens, so we look to your love to nourish us – to help us gain strength to face challenges, to find joy even in times of struggle, and to stretch and grow to our full potential. Your love is our sun, nurturing us to be healthy and vigorous, strong and beautiful.
We wish this not for our own personal benefit but so that our love can blossom forth into the world... so that we can lovingly and faithfully serve the earth, its people and all its creatures.
Today we heard the words from Luke – that we must love God with all our being – our heart, our soul, our mind, our strength. And we must love our neighbour as ourselves. These words are so simple and familiar; we learn them as children. And yet they are simply challenging – who is our neighbour and how do we love them? And can we love them as much as we love ourselves?
Much is asked of us in those words; their simplicity belies their depth. How different our world would be if people everywhere adhered to that simple maxim. Loving god, we know that we often do not extend love to our neighbours, wherever and whoever they might be. Nourishing god, we ask for your love, your sunshine, to fill us and guide us as we try each day to practise the rule of love.
God of the outstretched hand... "Hear our Prayers"
We remember today, as every day, that many in our world are suffering and grieving. And we remember they are all our neighbours.
In our Kootenay Presbytery Prayer Roster, we pray for David Boyd, minister at Nelson United Church. May he find continuing joy in his work, and feel the love of this congregation and of the many people in our larger community who appreciate his gifts and his giving.
In the World Council of Churches prayer cycle, we pray for the countries of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. May they continue their struggles for self-determination, for justice for all their citizens, and for the health of their environment. They are our neighbours.
We pray as always for our brothers and sisters at Nyanyadzi Methodist Church in Zimbabwe. They are also our neighbours.
We pray for peacemakers and peacekeepers serving throughout the world, who truly act as merciful neighbours to people suffering from war and strife.
Near to home, we hold in our hearts the concerns of people close to us, people who are part of our congregation, families and community. We pray for all those named on our Prayer List.
In this quiet moment we offer the names of others whose concerns are close to our hearts... ...God of the outstretched hand... "Hear our Prayers"
God of hope and compassion... today we think of our neighbours – the employees of the Nelson Daily News, and their families, who have had had their worlds turned upside down with the sudden closure of our daily newspaper. We pray that new directions will open for them, directions that will sustain them with joyful and meaningful work. We thank them for the work they and their predecessors have done for our community for 109 years, and we are sad for the loss of this community voice.
We also send our love and gratitude to our Re-imagining Team, and we stretch the hand of friendship to Rapid City & Area Pastoral Charge and Riverport Pastoral Charge – they are our neighbours and our Making Connections partners.
Loving god in all that we do, help us to be caring neighbours, to outstretch our hands and hearts as Jesus taught us to do. Sometimes we forget to do that, or we're too busy or we're fearful. Help us to be bold in our love, to remember and feel your love, a love that sustains us always.
God of the outstretched hand... "Hear our Prayers"
And the people say... "Amen"