Good morning God, lover of my soul. I hear your eye is on the sparrow and other birds, but I know birds are endangered and some have gone extinct. If your eye was on them, how did you feel as you watched them, God? What did you do, Spirit? Where were you in their suffering? According to US American tradition, tomorrow we will remember the multitudes who have died. According to your word, your eye was also on them. Did you feel anything like we did when they died? Many of us don't understand why some of them died. Some of us are still trying to find you in their suffering, in our suffering. Be more than a watchful eye to those of us who need to feel your presence, to those of us who need you to keep us from further suffering and from death. We have requests on our minds. We have raised them before you aloud, we have written them down in our bulletin. We are confident you see them and we await you, impatiently, for it is the only way some of us know how to wait, I know it is the only way I know how to wait.
Jesus, I think I speak on behalf of many here when I tell you I am afraid to follow you. I continually tell people I am a Christian, but most days the reality of my life depicts a person who only sometimes tries to be a Christian. I'm afraid to throw myself upon a cross. I do not want to suffer when I do your will. When I do your will, I want to everything to go smoothly, so I can assume the center of your will is the place where everything goes right and I can be happy. But, I guess things weren't coming up roses when you were doing God's will. You were tortured. You felt forsaken. You died. But you rose again. How I long to be resurrected, but how I want to avoid death. Teach us your ways, Lord Jesus, teach us to find your will and follow it amidst suffering, teach us to have the faith in God that you have.
Holy Spirit, dwell in us. Our bodies are not the holy temples they should, but your power is made perfect in our weaknesses. Dwell in us that we might be your holy tabernacle, your presence on this earth, which is our home and your blessed creation. Open our eyes that we might see your beauty and power in each other and in our neighbors, in the hungry, the naked, the imprisoned--the homeless, the poor, anyone different from us. Open our ears that we might hear your voice in the call for justice, the call for spare change in a hat, the call for a meal, the call for a friend, the call for the gospel. Dwell in us, Beautiful Spirit.
In the name of Christ we pray, Amen.
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