All around us, 
we are bombarded by worldly definitions
of love.
As we sing along 
with the lullabies
and the lamentations,
our own hearts soar
and sink,
reflecting upon our personal experience.
Hear the lovers rejoice, Lord,
in the springtime rhapsody,
and bless their joyful hearts
with courage
and with laughter.
Hear the spurned lament, Lord,
in the gut-wrenching blues,
and bless their broken spirits
with comfort
and with peace.
Hear the ballad of the long-committed, Lord,
as they sing the wonders
and the woes of love
with all its peaks and valleys,
and bless their attempts to be faithful
in a world where commitment is loosely defined.
Hear the painful expression of the betrayed, Lord,
as they rant
and roar
and rail against love
and against you
and against the world
in search of answers to questions
they can't begin to articulate.
Hear the long, slow wail of the grieving, Lord,
who have loved deeply 
and lost,
and bless their brokenness
with healing 
and with hope.
Hear the mournful cry of the lonely, Lord,
who long to love
and to be loved,
and bless the emptiness within them
with patience
and with strength.
Speak to your beloved, Lord,
and call us away
to pastures of plenty
where our hearts can be nourished
in the love 
that is the source of all love,
reconciling us to one another
and to you.


​Click here to add your prayers, inspired by the Prayers of the People, to the list of those in need of prayer this week.

Call to Confession

God is making God's appeal to us, imploring us to be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20, pp) Let us, then, confess our sin before God, and seek God's mercy.

Prayer of Confession

Our spirits long to know God more intimately,
to hear God's voice,
to feel God's nearness,
yet we do not take the time
to stop and listen,
to pay attention to God's presence,
to respond to God's call to come away with God.
Our bodies cry out in desperation,
cold and lonely and spiritually deprived.
We have forgotten what it feels like
to dance in the joy of new life.
We have forgotten how it feels
to know we are unconditionally loved.
Hear our prayers, O God,
and wrap us in your warm embrace,
melting the protective shields encasing our hearts,
and opening our ears to your invitation
​to love and be loved.

Assurance of God's Grace

Listen! (says the Lord), I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. (Rev. 3:20) In the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. Thanks be to God!

Since God has forgiven us in Christ, let us also forgive one another: The peace of Christ be with you.
Please extend the peace of Christ to everyone you encounter today.


*Click here to join the conversation around this week's Old Testament passage.

Christ calls to his bride, the church,
and lovingly invites her 
to come away
to a place of joy and delight.
Let us respond to Christ's invitation,
basking in the glory of his presence,
with hearts open
to worship and praise.


Click here to share your responses to the Song of Solomon passage this week. 

​For the church,
wherever it gathers,
that it may be a community
of caring,
where the mystery of god
is made known
through the Body of Christ
at work in the world: Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.
For those who are suffering
from the devastation
of wildfires,
hurricanes,
flooding,
and intense heat,
that relief may show up
in the form of expertise
and assistance
and nature's mercy: Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.
For those who are fighting
internal catastrophes
physically,
mentally,
emotionally,
and spiritually,
and confronting a barrenness
of hope,
that healing may come
in the form of love
and acceptance,
of forgiveness,
and of peace: Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.
For those who live among us
as strangers in a foreign land,
lonely and grieving,
fearful and ostracized,
that they may be gathered into community
and embraced by your
unconditional love: Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.
Surround each one with your love,
touch them with your mercy,
and fill them with a peace that passes all understanding.

Call to Confession

Every day in every place in every person, we encounter the holy, but too often we do not notice it, or if we do, we choose to ignore it. In every moment is an invitation to pray, to praise, to give thanks, but we cannot grasp the breadth and depth of the holiness that surrounds us. As we confess our sin before God, we seek God's mercy and forgiveness.

Prayer of Confession

When we attempt to confine you
to buildings with walls
and ceilings,
open our eyes to your presence
all around us,
so that we might be filled with awe
and wonder.
When we act as if the Good News
can only be proclaimed
from the mouths of the ordained,
open our ears to your voice
in the stranger,
so that we might be inspired
by your mystery
and by your grace.
When we exclude the foreigner
and perpetuate injustice
and withhold compassion,
open our hearts
to your healing Spirit
through the redeeming love
of Jesus Christ
in whose name we pray
this day and always,
that everywhere we are in community with others
is a house where God can dwell.

Assurance of God's Grace

God's grace is greater than our finite imaginations. In the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. Thanks be to God!

Since God has forgiven us in Christ, let us also forgive one another: The peace of Christ be with you.
Please extend the peace of Christ to all whom you encounter this week.

​

​Hearts ache in agony.
Grief overwhelms to the point of despair.
Losing our beloved is painful.
Hear our cries, O God!
Hear our cries for those who have led us
to places of joy and celebration,
to moments of victory,
to faithful service.
Hear our cries for those who have walked beside us
in times of trial and of challenge,
and who have loved us unconditionally,
who have held our stories
and have shown us how to live them valiantly
regardless of the circumstances around us ...
and maybe in spite of them.

We are drowning in fear, O God!
We are terrified of the consequences
of leaders without experience,
leaders lacking even temperament
and a strong moral compass.
Hear our prayers for wisdom and discernment,
but also for a heart that is open to guidance
and for a community of support
that can offer what is lacking
with courage and with integrity.

Be present with your people, Lord,
as we transition to new roles,
seeking to live our your claim on our lives
in new and exciting ways.
Open our ears to your voice.
Open our eyes to your activity among us.
Open our hearts to your Spirit,
that we may bring compassion to those who are hurting
and justice to the marginalized
and hope to the hopeless
and reassurance to those who are suffering under the abuse of power.

In the name of Christ we pray,
Amen

​Come as a child
before the great King ...
King above all kings ...
Ruler of the world.

Come with an open heart
and a reverent spirit
to worship
and to give thanks.

Come with a humble heart
before the throne of grace
and listen
for the voice of God to speak.