Opening Prayers/Prayers of Adoration on Acceptance
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.
Father – God of Joy and Hope;
Wonderful Lord and Spirit of delight and wonder:
You invite us to come to you with thanksgiving and joy,
laughter and quiet awe.
Your arms of welcome are out wide.
So we come, not perfect and not even very spiritual –
just as we are: Yours, spilling our hearts before You.