(For the worship theme of, Heaven, Can We Trust It Is True?)
God, how long have we wondered,
what is it like, where you are?
God you kit us together in your image,
with this ability, this desire to imagine like you,
from our earliest days you have caught us looking up.
Wondering, what is beyond this?
What do you make of our imagining, God?
Curated with clouds and color and whimsical things?
Does it delight you,
maker of the universe,
to see us spin our own attempts,
to depict the divine?
Does is humor you,
God who holds the heavens,
to know how surprised we will be when we arrive?
Have you kept some colors out of our rainbow,
just to watch our amazement one day?
For God, you created us with a propensity
to wonder like you, about you.
So for eyes made to look up in hope, we give you thanks.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
God, when you call the stars to shine,
and paint the sunsets like you do,
how much of your world is made, just to keep us looking up?
For holy shepherd,
you know all about our shadows and valleys.
You know of the days we hunger,
and how often we grow weary.
You know how heavy our hearts can become,
weighing down even our eyes,
making it impossible to look up.
So is that why you paint the pastures green and still the waters,
that we might remember peace will come?
Is that why you teach us you’ve prepared the party feast,
that we might hold the hope,
that our hunger won’t go unfed?
Is that why you promise finishing medals, crowns of glory,
that we might trust our weariness will meet sweet rest?
Is that why you prepare, not homes, but rooms,
all nestled closely together,
that we might be assured our separation is temporary?
So God hold all the heaviness we carry this day.
Stir us to look up,
reassure us again and again,
that your promise is true enough, that we are free to wonder.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
So God, do what you do.
Paint the skies and spin the stars.
Squeeze the parts of us that are most like you,
call us to imagine,
call us to wonder,
call us to trust that your hope is real,
and your heaven is waiting to be our home.
And then hold us, God, here and now,
that we might be curators of your peace,
holders of your hope,
for all who are weary in this day.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
So God as we work and wait for a better day,
we give ourselves to you again in this one,
as we pray together the prayer that you taught us
to sustain our hope until your promised day is come,
we pray….Our Father…
