A Concord Pastor Comments: Monday Morning Offering

Image: George Mendoza

(Over the last week, God has called home two people I met and came to care for through my work in the Lord's vineyard over the last 20 years... I mention them by name and know you have your own names to add as we pray for those who've gone before us and for one another, too...)

Good morning, gracious God...

Autumn's all around me
as she grieves the summer's passing
and shakes off leafy memories
of warmer, longer days...

The greens have lost their luster
and it's not yet time for nature's burst of color
to defy November's chill...

Still, my soul's at home this season, Lord,
in grieving John and Betty,
falling gently, slipping silently from branches on a vine
that twines within my heart...

Who knows but you the day
when just a gentle breeze might be enough
to loosen our weak grasp on what we call our life...

Then, like autumn leaves, we fall:
a final spiral dance, our letting go,
or such is what is seen and mourned
by those who might observe and wonder
how a lifetime ends
for being short just one more breath...

But you, Lord, know the day, the hour
when our last breath on earth will find us rising
to your throne of mercy, seeking pardon
and at last, a peace that has no end
and joy beyond our dreaming...

So, I offer you this morning, Lord,
my prayers for John and Betty
and for all whose loss we grieve
through seasons come and gone
and come and gone again...

I offer you my thanks
that holy lives have touched and blessed my own
and been for me your face before my eyes,
your grace alive within my soul...

I offer you my prayers for all who mourn,
whose hearts cling fast to what has passed,
who need your healing to let go their sorrowed pain...

Help us trust that one day, Lord, we'll be with you
and once again with all
who've gently fallen from the vines
that twine within our hearts...

Amen.

From this prayer time,
what word or phrase will I keep with me
to carry through the rest of my day?