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We Are Diverse

Hymn: Jesu, Jesu

Refrain Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love, show us how to serve the neighbors we have from you.

Neighbors are wealthy and poor,
Varied in color and race,
Neighbors are nearby and far away. Refrain

These are the ones we should serve,
These are the ones we should love:
All these are neighbors to us and you. Refrain

 

 

Prayer

Leader:
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Let us pray as one:

All:
Good and Gracious God,
We come before you as the community of St. Margaret of Scotland,
partnering together today to pray a Novena for clarity of mind and heart
during this time of challenge when diversity is misunderstood and threatened by
division.
We ask you, O God, for support and strength, as we seek your direction in searching
for unity rather than disunity,
for community that is not conformity.
Lead us the way we need to go, as our story – the story of St. Margaret of Scotland –
unfolds before us.
Open our eyes to the diversity of gifts that surrounds us.
Open our hearts to the unifying love you offer to us.
We make this prayer, filled with hope,
through Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Reading from John Lewis’s last letter to America

While my time here has come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours and of my life you have inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society. Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down burdens of division. Around the country and around the world you set aside race, class, age, language and nationality to demand respect for human dignity.

Response

Leader At dawn, fill us with your merciful love;
All we shall exult and rejoice all our days.
Leader Let your deed be seen by your servants,
All and your glorious power by their children.
Leader Let the favor of God be upon us;
All Give success to the work of our hands.
O give success to the work of our hands.

Word of God from Paul’s Letters to the Corinthians 12: 12-26 and the Romans 12: 4-6

[I]n one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit. Now the body is not a single part, but many. If a foot should say, “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. Or if an ear should say, “Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I do not need you.” Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor, and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety, whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. If [one] part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.

Petitions

Leader: Christ hears and saves all who hope in him. Let us bring him our needs. That diversity abundant in all humanity created in the image and likeness of God will be celebrated, protected, and held holy we pray…

R. Lord, hear our prayer.

That differences of ideas, cultures and practices will display the wonders of a triune God, we pray…

R. Lord, hear our prayer.

That our community will cultivate and pass along a vision of reconciliation in which all persons are honored and respected, we pray…

R. Lord, hear our prayer.

That those who struggle to survive the COVID19, may experience a return to good health, we pray. . .

R. Lord, hear our prayer.

For whom else do you pray?

The Lord’s Prayer

Leader As one family, let us pray in the words our Savior taught us:
Our Father. . .

Prayer of Saint Margaret of Scotland

Leader: Let us recall our mission as together we pray:

Loving God,
you call your people to holiness
and create among them models of kindness.
We thank you for the life of St. Margaret of Scotland:

a woman of leadership and hope in a confusing world;
a wife and mother excelling in patience, dedication and love;
a teacher supported and inspired by a life of learning;
a generous friend and a loyal servant to the poor and helpless;
a model of Christian faith and constant prayerfulness.

As we build on our faith,
help us to grow rich in the values of St. Margaret:
that faith, hope and love might inspire
our presence in the city and neighborhood,
our relationships with family and friends,
our concern for the education of the young,
our care for the poor and the weak,
our community’s prayer in word and sacrament.

Bless our parish and our school;
let it be for us a community of love and sharing,
and a source of life and grace
let it be a witness to our neighbors
of your life, your presence and your love.
Through Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.

Until tomorrow when we join in prayer again, may recognize the diversity that surrounds us
and find pleasure as we embrace our differences. AMEN

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