Pastoral Prayer for September 3, 2023

Our pastoral prayer this morning comes to us from Walter Brueggemann,

UCC Biblical Scholar and Theologian.

Surprising God,

We would as soon you were predictable

     and always the same toward us.

We would like to take the hammer of doctrine

     and take the nails of piety

     and nail your feet to the floor

     and have you stay in one place.

And then we find you moving,

     always surprising us,

     always coming at us from new directions.

Always planting us

     and uprooting us

     and tearing all things down

     and making all things new.

We pray for the great gift of freedom

     that we may be free toward you

     as you are in your world.

Give us that gift of freedom

     that we may move in new places

     in obedience and gratitude.

Thank you for Jesus

     who embodied your freedom for all of us.