Having a heart talk with God . . .

These penned prayers are becoming one of my favorite assignments . . . one of the times when I feel even more connected to God and seem to be able to hear just a little more clearly to the murmurings of my own heart. Here is what it spoke this past Sunday:

Prayers of the People

Most merciful God, the lover of our souls,
The caretaker of our hearts
The custodian of our being
The curator of us, your masterpieces
We praise your name!
We sing of your bountiful blessings!
We extol all that you are.
The great I AM!
The Lilly of the valley
Our bright and morning star
Our strength and our redeemer
The one who saves us.
The one who washes us anew.
The one who calls us to die to the nastiness of our sin.
Cleanse us again, O Lord!

On this day, bring to our remembrance
the day of our baptism,
the day we united with you to walk in a newness of life,
the day we surrendered
the day sin ceased to hold us bound in chains.
The day Jesus proclaimed us as shiny and new.
Worthy of grace
Worthy of mercy.
Worthy of everlasting love.

Lord strengthen our faith so that we may live this free life in you.
Without fear of condemnation and criticism,
Without fear of being rebuffed and rejected,
Without fear of being deserted and discarded,
Without fear of standing alone on our convictions.

Help us, O God, to live as we have never lived before for the good of others.
Help us to choose to live boldly and unswervingly in the belief of your Word.
Help us to be your living Word.
Look upon us with compassion as you mold us to be compassionate.
Help us to remember that we are ambassadors of this movement of Christ followers
Called to a mission to bring more into the fold.
Called to a mission to continue what Jesus started.
Called to a mission to simply serve.

AMEN.