Opening Prayers/Prayers of Adoration on Safety
Gracious and loving God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
We praise you for how wide, how high,
and how deep is Your vast love for all people.
Incarnate in Jesus, You offered Your life
for the healing of the world through the forgiveness of all our sins.
Your arms outstretched on the cross embrace us all
as Your love transcends our divisions and differences.
Breaking out of the tomb, You broke the powers that bind us
and released us to live new and free.
Your wide and welcoming love for all challenges us.
Forgive us when we find it hard to forgive others.
Teach us how to value and respect one another.
Give us the necessary strength and courage to reach beyond ourselves
To those who are unfamiliar, and even those we find disagreeable.
Make us a safe place in a dangerous world,
a people in which Your Hope lives,
Your Love welcomes,
Your Compassion restores and
Your Grace lifts all who are downcast.
God our Father,
Lord our Shepherd,
Spirit of the Living God,
One in Three … and Three in One:
We praise You our Creator, Savior, and Provider.
By Your grace, we lack nothing.
You feed us in body and in soul.
You give us rest when we are weary.
You direct us on ways that are good and right.
You go with us through the dark times
so we will not walk them alone.
You protect us in Your goodness
with Your strength.
You spread before us
a banquet in the wilderness
and a feast in the face of whoever
and whatever threatens us.
You pour over us Your oils
of cleansing grace, of healing, and of gladness.
And no matter where we have wandered,
You open wide Your arms to welcome us home.
That is why we praise You;
That is why we love You;
That is why we are here to worship You today,
our God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
the One in Three and the Three in One. AMEN.