07/14/2024
From the ECC’s daily prayer prompt:
Unite 2024
PRAYER FOR TRAVELING MERCIES
Lord, God, we come to you with joy for all of the Covenant youth traveling to Unite East in Ohio and Unite West in California. Thank you for the provision of their presence. We ask that you would keep them and their leaders at the forefront of our minds today and tomorrow as they travel by road, airplane, and train to their respective campuses. May your arms of protection shelter them on their journey from home to Unite; may the strength of your Spirit provide courage to forge new friendships and deepen old ones; may the power of your love unleash curiosity and a desire to draw closer to you.
God, as these students and their leaders come together to worship, learn, and grow at Unite, we ask your blessing on their gathering*:
Accomplish your purposes among them, O God. Tune their hearts to the voice of your Spirit. Wake them to be present to you and to each other in the shared hours they are given. For it is you, O Lord, who have gathered them from our various places, and you alone who know their hearts and their needs.
Among them are some who will arrive anxious, some who are lonely, some who suffer pain or sorrow. May they, in their sorrows, find grace to embrace the joys of others. Among them are some who arrive rejoicing, hearts made light by good news, good health, and glad anticipation. May they, in their joys, find grace to enter the sorrows of others.
Let them prize these moments and care for one another deeply—for each one, and their relationships to one another, are precious and eternal.
Breathe upon this gathering, O Spirit of God.
Grant each of them a place to humbly receive and to faithfully serve, that they might know in this brief gathering a foretaste of that greater communion yet to come.
O Father, enlarge their hearts.
O Spirit, expand their vision.
O Christ, establish your kingdom among them.
Be at work even now, O Lord.
May your will, in them, during this gathering, be accomplished.
Amen.
* Excerpt is from "A Liturgy to Begin a Purposeful Gathering", by Every Moment Holy