Prayers of Thanksgiving @Cyber Church when meeting on Zoom

Call to worship:

Come all people of God and worship our Triune God, the God of hope during these times of uncertainty

At whose space are we worshipping today? My place, your place, his place, her space, their space…none of our spaces yet all of our spaces, which is God’s space, for God is everywhere and God is present here.

Though we are scattered and are joining here from different locations, the Spirit of God is brooding over us,

Though we are isolated and joining on zoom from our own homes for this service, the grace of God is uniting us,

Though we are strangers to cyber church and are first-timers joining in worship, sitting at our own computer desks, we are the broken body of Christ,

Though we are new to seek spirituality in virtuality, we are all one in the spirit and in truth,

In that confidence, Come and worship the Lord with all our hearts, minds and spirits, for where two are three are self-isolated during these times, Jesus is still present among them and the Spirit of God is moving among us. Come and worship, for this is God’s space, holy space and comforting space…

Introduction to Hymn:

During these times of despair and fear, our hope is in Jesus Christ for God in Jesus is our Lord, the Lord in our present imperfections, the Lord who is journeying with us and our future is in our Lord. Come let us sing the hymn “Heaven shall not wait,” hymn no: 701 in Singing the Faith written by John Bell and Graham Maule. The words of this hymn will be shared on our screen, sing along as the music is played.

Prayers of Thanksgiving:

Our God, our refuge, our strength in times of trouble,

How are we to sign a song of praise during these difficult times,

How are we to sing a Lord’s song in these strange times?

We have experienced that in you is our hope and future.

We thank you for your constant presence,

We thank you for holding us and journeying with us,

We thank you for crying with us when we are hurting,

We thank you for weeping with us in our pain,

We thank you for speaking to us through your word,

We thank you for inviting us to do church differently,

We thank you for Jesus Christ, who self-isolated himself for 40 days into wilderness for prayer and fasting,

We thank you for Jesus Christ who comforted and healed those who lived in isolation due to their ritual practices,

We thank you for the risen Jesus who went and shared peace with those self-isolated frightened disciples who were locked up in their room,

We thank you for Holy Spirit who encountered Paul and Silas when they were isolated in prisons,

We thank you loving God for being present among us today

We thank you living God for inviting to be your loving embrace to our neighbours

We thank you listening God for choosing us to be ambassadors of hope,

We thank you God that you never let us down, that you always give us hope.

We give you thanks today and forever. Amen.

@rajpatta