Prayer for Laity Sunday

Now is a time where we share our joys and concerns. If you have
a joy or concern, please make your way to one of the
microphones provided on each side and in the balcony.
We will enter a time of silence, followed by a spoken prayer
written by Ted Loder. Please pray with me.
About 30-60 seconds of silence
O God, gather us together to be with you, as you are with us.
Soothe our tiredness, quiet our fretfulness, curb our aimlessness,
relieve our compulsiveness and let us be easy for a moment.
O God, release us from the fear and guilt which grip us so tightly;
from the expectations and opinions which we so tightly grip, that
we may be open to receiving what you give, to risking something
genuinely new, to learning something refreshingly different.
O God, gather us together to be with you as you are with us.
Forgive us for claiming so much for ourselves that we leave no
room for gratitude; for confusing exercises in self-importance with
acceptance of self-worth; for complaining so much of our burdens
that we become a burden; for competing against others so
insidiously that we stifle celebrating them and receiving your
blessing through their gifts.
O God, draw us together to be with you as you are with us. Keep
us in touch with ourselves, with our needs, our anxieties, our
angers, our pains and our corruptions, that we may claim them as
our own, rather than blame them on someone else.
O Lord, deepen our wounds into wisdom; shape our weaknesses
into compassion; gentle our envy into enjoyment, our fear into
trust, and our guilt into honesty.
O God, gather us together to be with you as you are with us.