Special Prayers During Service

Prayer Shawl Dedication

We bring before You these shawls and pocket shawls, created with love and bathed in prayer. By Your grace make them to be a safe haven, a sacred place of security and well-being. May those who receive these gifts be cradled in hope, kept in joy, infused with peace, be wrapped in and feel Your love.

Bless, O Lord these gifts which carry the prayers of this community of faith. May those who will be wrapped in them and those who hold the gift in the palms of their hands come to know that You are always near, always ready to share their burdens, and always ready to comfort and heal. Through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen

For a Birthday

Watch over your child, O Lord as his/her days increase; bless and guide him/her wherever he/she may be. Strengthen him/her when he/she stands; comfort him/her when discouraged or sorrowful; raise him/her up if he/she falls; and in his/her heart may your peace which passes understanding abide all the days of his/her life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

For an Anniversary

O God, you have so consecrated the covenant of marriage that it represents the spiritual unity between Christ and his Church: Send your blessing upon these your servants as they celebrate their anniversary, that they may continue to love, honor and cherish each other in faithfulness and patience, in wisdom and true godliness, that their home may be a haven of blessing and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”