With a new school year and new expectations approaching this fall, Lilly Ettinger notices that it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and on our own. God reminds us that we are not isolated human beings, but part of a community that helps us not to conform to hyperindividualism, but to lean into being a part of the story of God and the world.
Reflection Questions
Where in your life are you acting as though you have to do it alone?
What becomes possible when we understand ourselves as members of one another?
Where might God be inviting you to create the community you also need?
Opening Prayer
God of all things, we arrive as a collective embodying an abundance of every human need.
God of limitless compassion, we bring our broken hearts before you. Restore the distorted vision in our eyes to see what you see in ourselves and each other.
God of limitless dreams, we bring our broken dreams before you. Restore the frayed edges of hopes where we are jaded and cynical.
God of limitless delight, we bring our bodies before you. Restore our ragged, worn bodies to the joy you made in us.
In the name of God, our Protective Parent, Christ, our Hope of Transformation, and the Holy Spirit, our Eternal Breath
Amen
(Lauryn Williams)
Benediction
Go now, and live as one body in Christ. Be at peace, and care for one another;
Suffer with one another, and rejoice with one another. Give your attention to the voice of God, and proclaim the good news of freedom to all.
And may God delight your heart and sharpen your vision; May Christ Jesus keep you, thought and word, in his grace; And may the Holy Spirit be the fountain that sustains and binds you together as one.
This we pray, in the name of the triune God, Holy in One
Amen
(Sam Lee)
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