I’m going to be publishing the prayers, stories and sermons I’m using in worship at Christ Church. I’m really excited to have the opportunity to develop my liturgical creativity and practice liturgical arts.

I have already published my first sermon, and today I’m publishing a prayer I’m using this week in worship. Normally, instead of a traditional Prayers of the People formula, worshipers call out their specific joys and concerns during a time of prayer in worship. You’ll see where that moment occurs at the end of this prayer, and I invite you to issue your own prayers as well.

This prayer is based on the lectionary passage for November 4, Year C: Luke 19:1-10, the story of Zacchaeus. The middle passage of the prayer is taken from Augustine’s Confessions, Book 1, Confession 4.

Let us pray,

Persistent friend who calls from the bottom of our tall, tall trees for us to jump into extravagant grace,
You are the only security our hearts will ever know.

“What other refuge can there be, except our God?
You, our God, are supreme, utmost in goodness, mightiest and all-powerful, most merciful and most just.
You are the most hidden from us and yet the most present among us,
the most beautiful and yet the most strong,
ever enduring and yet we cannot comprehend you.
You are never new, never old, and yet all things have new life from you.
You are the unseen power that brings decline upon the proud.
You are always active, yet always at rest.
You gather all things to yourself, though you suffer no need.
You support, you fill, and you protect all things.
You create them, nourish them, and bring them to perfection.
You seek to make them your own, though you lack for nothing.
You love your Creation, but with a gentle love.
You treasure us without apprehension.
You grieve for wrong, can be angry and yet you are serene.
Your works are varied, but your purpose is one and the same.
You welcome all who to come to you, though you never lost them.
You are never in need yet are glad to gain,
never covetous yet you exact a return for your gifts.
You are our God, our Life, our holy Delight,
but this is not enough to say of you.
Can anyone say enough about you?
Yet, woe to those who are silent about you.”

Persistent friend who calls from the bottom of our tall, tall trees,
these are our prayers: