Lord, I cannot get everything right

Lord, I cannot get everything right. I cannot undo the things I have already got wrong.

So, here I am sad and penitent, sometimes feeling small and useless.

I am truly sorry, but I am not berating myself, for I know that I am human, and in this life I will struggle to be the person I want to be.

Yet I do desire with all my heart to love you and to love my neighbour.

So, will you, dear Lord, graciously be at work to bless those whom I have harmed or neglected; and work in me to play my part in your work of answering all of our prayers for healing and wholeness as we try to care for one another.

Redeem the day, redeem the lost or spoilt opportunities, redeem us all.

May your grace win the day.

As broken bones, truly healed, can be stronger than bones never broken, so, may the scars we bear from wounds healed but still visible, be sources of hope to us and to others. As they see our scars, may they realise that we too are hurt, but still standing, still loving, still serving. And may we learn to see their scars, and tend to wounds not yet healed.

Lord, your grace works mysteriously, to put right what seems utterly wrong, and to recover what seemed lost beyond our ability to do anything about it. Redeeming Lord, it is your power to heal, restore and make good that we adore. In you we have discovered the power that defies evil and hatred, sin, and death itself.

In our poverty of spirit, we turn again to you, humbly asking that we may grow into the likeness of Jesus. In the glory of your redemptive grace, we embrace life, in all its agony and delight; we set ourselves to walk in step with your Spirit, to make the world into the Kingdom of your Son.

Be with us. Help us not to be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good. We are your people. You have redeemed us through the blood of our Lord Jesus, and we trust in your promise of life in all its fullness. Help us to suffer and to serve, and to rejoice, to pray and to worship, in our journey with you and one another to make known your goodness, truth and love – in us, and in those we meet.

Amen