This is the prayer for our upcoming Synod meeting, in July.

Creating God,
with breath and dust and a word you brought us to life,
to care, to serve, to nurture,
to build community and to flourish.

Even in our frailty and failure you love us,
call us back to yourself,
and offer us forgiveness and life again.

Incarnate One,
your presence offered life to those from whom it was withheld:
those bent with illness and injustice,
those broken by exclusion or empire,
those silenced by their suffering, their sin, or their circumstance.

In your crucifixion and rising,
you put the lie to death’s strongest word
and to sin’s manacle on our humanness;
in your new life, you offer us life anew.

Breath of Life,
stir us with hope,
lift our hearts in wonder,
sing to us of the life offered us in Jesus Christ.

You are the flame to refine your church,
to lead us into the life which proclaims your Gospel.

Constitute, rule and renew us
in this Synod meeting
that we might hear your voice,
answer your call,
and witness to your presence in your world.

In, with and through Christ we pray. Amen.