We pray, O God, that you would help us to nurture faith. Help us to be students of your word, and of your truth. Teach us to be disciples, followers. Help us to find the paths of spiritual growth. Grant that we would see our faith as a journey unfolding and not as a destination we've reached. We give thanks, O God, for Lloyd Storment, faithful companion and mentor to so many on their journeys

Strengthen our church as we nurture faith. We give thanks for Sunday School teachers who help us to learn. We give thanks for youth and for children who have grown in faith through Passport. We give thanks for Anita, and for Cynthia, who are helping our young people to grow.

We pray, O God, that you would help us to proclaim hope. We give thanks for our choir, who so passionately proclaim that hope to us each week. We give thanks for Noel Weaver, and ask that you could continue to nurture the good work that he has begun here.

Help us in this hour of worship to proclaim hope to those especially in need of it. May we lift high the banner of hope for those around us who are sick, for those who are grieving, for those who are lonely, for those fearing failure or loss. And may hope be for us not merely a banner - may it also be a cup of coffee offered a friend, a meal shared with a new church member, a hug given to a family member, an invitation to church offered to a stranger.

We pray, O God, that you would help us to live love. We know from your word that Love is greater than faith or hope. Help us to see that a part of its greatness is due to the fact that it is not simply something we receive, but that it is something we live; something we breathe in and breathe out. help us not merely to be receptacles of your love. help us not to cling to your love, or to demand your love.

Grant that we would be vessels of your love, alternately filled and poured out. Fill us with a love that will not let us go, and help us to pour out our love upon those who have no one to hold them. Fill us with a love that has no limits on its height or depth, and help us to reach for the highest forms of caring, and to travel to the lowest places - nearby and far away - where people long for love.

Fill us with the love of Christ, who poured out his life for us, and help us to pour out our lives for others. It is in his name we pray.

Amen.

Three things abide: Faith, Hope, and Love, but the greatest of these is love.

Copyright © 2004 Broadway Baptist Church