Blessed are you, O God, creator of the universe and giver of all good gifts to your children. Today, we thank you for your church and for all you have done in and through the church to love us and the world in which we live. We love your church, O God. We know your church to be your bold dream of a body of people united in service to you. Give us the heart and mind to become the body of Christ.

We pray that we might have the eyes of Christ, so that we may see every person as a person of worth, so that we may respond in loving concern for all persons, so that we may know every person as a person for whom Christ died, so that we may see the world as Christ saw the world; full of people who need healing, care and compassion and full of people who know how to love as they have been loved.

We pray, that we might have the voice of Christ, so that we may speak fearlessly and compassionately the words of your good news to every person in our church, our community, and the world.

We pray that we might have the hands of Christ, so that we may be directly engaged in healing hope with the poor of our city. In the midst of the divisions between races, rich and poor, male and female; among those who are economically deprived and politically oppressed; with those who are emotionally and mentally ravaged, and those in the grip of alcohol and other drugs.

We pray that we might breathe with the spirit of Christ, so that the desire of our lives is to know your heart of love, know the glory of your righteousness, and know your infinite concern about the imbalances and injustices of life.

We want to share in Christ’ vision of the kingdom in the church: of the way it reorders our lives and reorganizes our priorities and redeems our fallen human institutions. Let the desires that were in Christ Jesus be in us. Let the mind that was in Christ Jesus be in us. Let the love that was shown by Christ Jesus be shown through us, that being united to Christ, we shall reveal to the world around us the dream you have for your creation, that we all may be one, sharing life and love and possessions, until we are caught up in the joys of your kingdom.

O God, today we thank you for your church, make each of us, more like you all to your glory and our good, as we offer ourselves to you in the name of Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying, “Our Father, who art in heaven… Amen.”