I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

[audio http://www.opcbrookhaven.org/worship/audio/music/02-17-10-02.mp3]From our Ash Wednesday service for Haiti. The band sings the U2 song, accompanied by the choir, as Meghan Brown Saavedra offers prayers for Haiti and the world. I got to play some guitar; thanks for letting me borrow the gear, Seth! Lyrics to the song can be found here.

God of mercy, we pray for all people around the world, who climb mountains, risk arrest and gather furtively with your people in order to give praise and glory to you. We give thanks for the people of Haiti, who in the midst of destruction, famine, and despair, have flocked to their churches, gathered with their communities and broken out in spontaneous prayer and song on the streets. We also thank you for the generous international response to the victims in Haiti. In the midst of this tragedy, we have seen glimpses of our interconnectedness. We have felt compassion and grief, pride and humility, utter sadness and despair for people we have never met, but with whom we are mysteriously but undeniably connected.

God of justice, we pray for those in Haiti, those in more distant countries and those in our very own neighborhoods who appear to have nothing: no place to lay their heads, no food to fill their stomachs, no medicine to cure their ills, no family to anchor them. We also pray for those who seem to have everything, but whose illusions of self-sufficiency isolate them from God and neighbor. We deserve your condemnation; but instead of rejection, you sent your Son into the world to love us, forgive us, and save us, not just giving us our life back, but giving us new life in Jesus Christ. O God, we ask that you show your presence and your love in mighty and visible ways in the country of Haiti. We boldly ask for miracles of healing, generosity, forgiveness, hope and transformation.

God of wisdom, let all of our actions be guided by your will and your love. Give us the desire to be instruments of your justice and peace. We know from our personal experiences and through the witness of Scripture that you are our true refuge and our strength, a very present and real help in trouble. We desperately want to be fearless; give us the courage to speak these words; to claim them, believe them, and act as through our very life depends on them. When we feel as though we have not found what we are looking for, help us remember that you have already found us, that you reach our to us, offering grace and reconciliation, new and abundant life, and the promise of your kingdom come.