A QUOTE by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, A TEXT AND A PRAYER…OR TWO
A QUOTE
“We were made to enjoy music, to enjoy beautiful sunsets, to enjoy looking at the billows of the sea and to be thrilled with a rose that is bedecked with dew… Human beings are actually created for the transcendent, for the sublime, for the beautiful, for the truthful… and all of us are given the task of trying to make this world a little more hospitable to these beautiful things.”
― Desmond Tutu
A TEXT
“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Luke 7
AND A PRAYER…OR TWO
Merciful God, you have searched us out and known us:
the hopes we hold and regrets that cling to us,
the hurts we absorb and ferment;
the tears we both cause and shed.
We stand before you: all that we have been
and all that we are,
knowing that only in you are we truly known
as the ones you would have us be.
Guide us inward to face our selves and each other,
within the forgiveness of your love,
that we might joyfully welcome the gifts and challenges
that the new creation of your salvation brings.
Through Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns
With you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Loving God, Creator of all, maker and redeemer of history,
you hold the pains and joys of our past, our present, our future;
you open us to the gifts of time
and to the possibilities of new beginnings,
You grant us the confidence to face our sin and loss with hope.
Breathe in us the grace to trust in your loving forgiveness,
that we may face our histories with courage.
Guide us by your Holy Spirit in our walk of repentance,
as we turn to embrace the new life you have given to us,
through Jesus Christ, your Son, Amen.