Prayers for Sunday April 15, 2001

Easter

Invocation or Call to Worship

Spirit of the Living God, help us this day to focus our attention on what really matters. Keep the fragments of this long day together and as it ends, let us see our part in its parts, our resurrection in Your resurrection, our connection to its myriad connections, our life's way in its many ways. Open us in the same way You opened the tomb — towards the light, towards the dawn, towards the new day You have now guaranteed.

Give to us this morning a vision of our risen Lord, that we may go forth to shout to all creation, "Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!" Amen.

Prayer of Confession

Merciful Lord, You open the eyes of the blind, You heal the sick, and You raise the dead. Yet we are slow to believe. Roll away the stone from our hearts, that we may be freed to discover the miraculous gift that You have set before us this day. Forgive us for assuming that death has the final word. For in our lives we witness how powerful and unavoidable death is. Remove our sin, so that we may embrace You with complete and utter trust. We ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

Prayer of Dedication

Let us Laugh so much, O God, that we become laughter,
Let us Sing so much that we become Song.
Let us give so much that we become Gift. Amen

Pastoral Prayer

Eternal God, we are people who know what it is like to wander in the midst of graves. We are people who know what it is like to set foot in the valley of the shadow of death. We have spent fear-filled days in the hospital. We have had our hearts torn asunder by unspeakable grief. We have poured out our tears at the cemetery. And we admit that there are times when we are not certain whether we have the strength to keep on going.

Raise us, O God, to your height and your depth. Let us skip out on the guards who keep our spirit on hold, the internal ones and the external ones. Let this congregation b e a risen people, a sign of hope to the world. When people see us, let them ask the source of our life, the skip in our walk, the light in our eyes, the certainty we know that makes optimism look small. Let our faith shine the way Easter dawn shone—with a brilliance that many can only imagine ever seeing.