Offertory Prayer

May 26, 2013 – Trinity Sunday/First Sunday after Pentecost God of Love and grace, you created us at our birth, but you continue to create us in our living. Even in death, the journey will not be complete. As we share our gifts this morning, we strive to grow into sacrificial giving. It is when we are challenged that we are shaped, re-formed by you, into the disciples you long for us to be. May the gifts we give and the lives we live display to the world an endurance that produces character and character that produces hope. For we pray boldly, knowing hope that comes from the Holy Spirit never disappoints! In Christ, we pray. Amen. (Romans 5:1-5)

GBOD continues to deliver the full text of each month's offertory prayers via email. You may also find the Offertory Prayers online at www.GBOD.org



Written by Ken Sloane, Director of Stewardship for GBOD.



Saturday, May 26, 2012

How Manifold Are Your Works, a Reflection on Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

Don't fall into the error of modalism--that at different points of history, God appeared in different forms. That is, God was Father during the Old Testament times, then became the visible Son, then at Pentecost became manifest as the Spirit.

The lectionary choice of Psalm 104 for Pentecost Sunday reminds us that God as Spirit was present at creation. Verses 24 through 28 cite examples of what God has created--the earth, ships, Leviathan.

These created things need the Spirit:
When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground (29-30).
We have been through Lent and through Eastertide. In the church calendar, we are now entering what is called Ordinary Time. We, in the Scriptures and in our lives, have seen and will seen pain and blessings. Verses 33-34 will be a good prayer for us this week and weeks to come:
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord!

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