This litany is suggested for the opening session of each General Assembly Standing Committee:
Eternal and gracious God, as we gather for the 221st
General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church (USA), we offer you thanks and praise.
We give you thanks for
our faith in your sovereign love,
guiding and grounding our prayers and deliberations,
and this opportunity for new and renewed friendships,
confessing that we are the body of Christ together.
our out your Holy Spirit anew we pray, that
our common life this week reflects the mind of Christ,
seeking God’s guidance through our worship, prayer, discernment and action,
and our engagement with each other demonstrates the transforming love of God,
enabling us to discern God’s will together.
Lead us beyond our private concerns and petty perspectives,
that our experience together centers on
learning from Presbyterians and many others across the United States and around the world,
discovering God’s presence through worship, devotions, hallway prayers and Christ-centered conversations,
witnessing with joy and thanksgiving the emergence of new leaders for the church,
making decisions through contemplation, prayer and heartfelt sharing,
centered on the call of Christ,
and growing in our personal and church wide understanding of God’s will and ways.
In our life together during the days ahead, give us the courage
to participate in discussion, deliberation and discernment
in ways that are fair and honest and open,
to be quick to listen and not so quick to speak,
to engage with one another in love, humility and grace,
and to proclaim with clarity and determination
the great good news of the Gospel.
Through our time together this week, grant anew that
this meeting may represent the bond of union, community and mission
among all the congregations and councils of our church
to the end that the whole church becomes
a community of faith, hope, love and witness, to the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
