Wind who makes all winds that blow, gusts that bend the sapling low,
gales that heave the sea in waves, stirrings in the mind’s deep caves:
aim your breath with steady power on your church, this day, this hour.
Raise, renew the life we’ve lost, Spirit God of Pentecost.
Loving God, Creator God, your children are hardly together and far from “in one place” it seems. And yet we long for you to blow in fill the places we are sitting; to rest on us and fill us anew with your presence; to stretch us and blow our abilities beyond our traditions and boundaries.
Fire who fuels all fires that burn, suns around which planets turn,
beacons making reefs and shoals, shining truth to guide our souls:
come to us as once you came; burst in tongues of sacred flame!
Light and Power, Might and Strength, fill your church, its breadth and length.
Refining Fire, make us bearers of your light and love. Kindle revival in your people, and sweep us across all boundaries and borders to share the clarity of your passionate love. Set our hearts on fire and fan us in your Spirit into such a conflagration that your good news transforms and warms and reforms your children far and wide. Spirit of Truth and Comfort, guide us and lead us when others try to put out your fire and when others don’t understand your mysterious ways.
Holy Spirit, wind and flame, move within our mortal frame;
make our hearts and altar pyre; kindle them with your own fire.
Breathe and blow upon that blaze till our lives, our deeds, and ways
speak that tongue which every land by your grace shall understand.
-“Wind Who Makes All Winds That Blow” – Thomas Troeger
Pour out your Spirit, O God, as all of creation groans in anticipation of your healing and wholeness. Stir in us again visions and dreams of all you have planned and all you call us into with you. The days of no more prisoners to exchange, and no more borders to dispute; the days of no more displaced persons from their precious lands and no more homelessness anywhere; the days when boats shall sink no more; the days of no more hunger and pain; the days of no more shooting rampages or the grief and terror of kidnappings; the days of no more forced annexations or “civil” war; the days of working together in your glorious new city instead of polarizing and demonizing one another in our own.
As we celebrate this birthday of the church, we praise you for sharing your gifts with your people, especially the gift of yourself, pouring out your Presence, your abiding and guiding Spirit at Pentecost. Grant us the creativity and foresight in your Refining Fire to forge treasures for the great parade when we stream in from all nations, bringing our gifts into your Light.
In Your Spirit, we pray in the Name of Jesus, giving all glory and honor to you, Almighty God now and forever. AMEN.
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