God of living water, we come as thirsty people:
In a world too filled with lies, we thirst for truth.
In a world too filled with hatred, we thirst for love.
In a world too filled with evil, we thirst for goodness.
In a world so shallow, we thirst for depth.

With lives too filled with sin, we thirst for forgiveness.
With lives too filled with appointments, we thirst for quiet.
With lives too filled with conflict, we thirst for peace.

God of living water, grant us the gift of stretching out by the babbling brook of your sustaining grace. Allow us to dip our cups in, and drink deeply from, the waters of your strength.

Yet, even as the sick person looks around the hospital and finds someone else who is even sicker, we pray for people who are thirstier than we. The pressures of our lives are truly hard to bear some days, but we pray for a President who goes to bed each night and wakes up in the
morning with the weight of potential calamity upon him. We pray for
his safety and for the safety of a quarter million people gathered near
him as he travels to Daytona Beach today.

We carry with us the emptiness of painful losses in our past, but we
pray also for those for whom the pain of grief is a fresh wound.

We struggle with our health from time to time, but we pray for those
whose illnesses are acute and frightening, and we pray for those who stand beside them.

We get frustrated with the diminished capacities that come with
aging, but we pray for those with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, and for those weary people who walk beside them, as they stride toward an existence that brings with it a profound sense of emptiness.

Our families are imperfect and at times frustrating, but we pray for
those who would give anything for the gift of a family made whole
again, imperfect though it may be.

As the deer longs for flowing streams, so our souls long for your, dear Lord, and we are indeed thankful that you have brought us to this quiet place, nearer to you. We praise you for the cloud of witnesses gathered around us - people who have shown us their love in our hour of need, or people we are beginning to understand have the capacity to care for us and who welcome us into a place of compassion and concern for one another.

Grant us now the gift of resting beside your stream, and minister to our thirsty souls in the week ahead, even as we go forth and carry a cup of cold water to others in your name.

Amen.

As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and behold the face of God?

Psalm 42:1-2 NRSV

Copyright © 2004 Broadway Baptist Church