Our Father, who waits with patient love and runs to meet us as soon as we turn to return to you, we pray for all those who today are feeling lost, unloved, unwanted, far away from the love and safety of a community.
Those whose lives have slowly broken down into loneliness and loss of love - May they discover the friendship and acceptance of Jesus and his followers, including us.
Those who no longer have a home and safe space in which to live - May they find welcome and support in the company of Jesus and his followers, including us.
Those who struggle against the inner anguish of depression, loss of meaning and purpose in their life - May they recover hope and strength to go on because they are cared for, and looked after by those whose compassion, like God’s love, never gives up on them,
Those who are travelling in the far country of grief and loss, trying to make sense of the unfamiliar landscape of their life - May they know the strong comfort of faithful friends, the accompanying love of God who knows their sorrow and shares the burden of the days.
Father, we all know people who are struggling, who are in the far country, and who want to find their way back to a life of safety, community and welcome. God of compassion, we bring each of them into our minds and hearts, and so into the presence and reality of your grace, and peace and love in Christ.
May they each discover the outstretched arms of your welcome, and recover a new sense of their own place in your love, and in the communities of Jesus and his followers, here in this church, and in all the gathered communities of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation