A Concord Pastor Comments: Monday Morning Offering: MAY 19

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

Yesterday was a great day, Lord!

All the usual Sunday doings
but we also welcomed children to Communion
for the first time:
a moment of grace for the parish,
for the children and for their families....

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Many of their family and friends, I'll guess,
had not recently or often at all
come to your table, Lord,
but these children brought them home to you
and to your word and your sacrament...

I hope and pray this home-coming was for all
a moment of grace,
sparking in the hearts of those who've strayed
a taste for prayer, a thirst for you,
a desire to come again...

Was it the Easter season or the fine weather,
the scriptures, the children's faces,
or the grace of the song we lifted to your name
that opened our eyes, our ears, our minds,
our hearts to you and your presence?

I know your people were moved, Lord:
I saw it in their faces,
I heard it in their voices,
I read it in their tears,
I watched their eyes watch their children,
their grandchildren, their nieces and nephews...

DupontMediaWorld

Perhaps it was all those things - and more,
more than we can know or count -
that opened the hearts of many to your presence
speaking in your word
and feeding us in sacrament:
a day of grace...

So this morning, Lord, I offer you
the moments when your Spirit opens up our lives,
breathing deep within us,
and holding us in arms that reach
above, before and all around us...

I know there's not a moment of any day or night
when you're not by our side, Lord:
you're always there - without fail...

But we often fail to see, to hear, to sense you near,
to feel your touch upon our shoulders, gently guiding,
sometimes pushing us to claim the faith and trust
you've planted in our hearts...

I offer you our desire to be open,
to recognize, to know the moments of grace
that come our way every day, every night...

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I offer you our need to trust that you are with us,
especially when we fear you might have left us
all alone...

I offer you our hope
to find you in some special way each day,
to find your presence and your peace
settling in around us and within us,
in ways that only you could know we need...

I offer you our hunger
for the warmth of your embrace,
the light of your wisdom,
the peace of your grace...

And I offer you our prayer that in some way
our own lives will be moments of grace
for all whose paths cross ours each day,
especially those who came home this weekend,
brought home by children coming to your table
to share with us in Communion
for the very first time...