6 September 2023 – Pause & Pray

(Image: “Say Yes to Your Happiness,” Amber Goldhammer)

Every Wednesday we invite you to Pause & Pray with us.

PRAY:

Holy God, to whom we turn in our trouble,
And from whom we receive life and well-being….
We gladly and without reservation assert:
You are the one who gives life;
You are the one who hears our prayers;
You are the one who turns our jungles of threat
into peaceable zones of life.
You are the one who has kept us since birth,
who stands by us in our failure and shame;
who stands against our anxiety to make us free.
You are the one who does not hide your face when we call.
So we praise you. We worship you. We adore you.
We yield our life over to you in glad thanksgiving….
As an act of praise, we submit more and more
Of our own life to you;
As an act of praise we notice your poor,
And pledge our energy on their behalf;
As an act of praise we say “yes” to you and to your rule over us.
We say “yes, yes,”
Amen and Amen.
(Source: Walter Brueggemann, Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth)

MEDITATE:

2 Corinthians 1:17-19 (NRSV)
17Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to ordinary human standards, ready to say ‘Yes, yes’ and ‘No, no’ at the same time? 18As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been ‘Yes and No.’ 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not ‘Yes and No’; but in him it is always ‘Yes.’