Opening Prayer: Deep Within

Here’s an opening invocation for the third Sunday after Epiphany (January 22, 2012).  It was written by Rev. Madison Shockley of Carlsbad, CA.

Opening Invocation

From deep within us we know of a loving presence.
All around us we see glory, beauty, life and light.
We have no words for what we experience so we cry out, "God!".
In this moment of worship may that loving presence grow deeper,
may our awareness of the divine presence around us grow more intense.
May we, gathered in this place, learn to pay more attention to God,
who loves us at all times and in all places.

God, of love and life, in this moment of prayer
be more and more in us
that we might live more and more in you. Amen.

— written by the Rev. Madison Shockley, pastor of the Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad, CA.  It is part of a larger liturgy called Reluctant Evangelists: Service Prayers for the Third Sunday after Epiphany,  posted on the United Church of Christ’s Worship Ways website.  Visit that site for other good worship resources for Epiphany. 

For more worship resources for the Epiphany season, click on Epiphany, or Epiphany 1 B, 2 B, etc. in the list of “Labels” at the lower right side of the page.

For more prayer resources on this blog, see the Scriptural Prayer Index at the upper right, or click on Invocation or Opening Prayers in the list of “Labels” at the lower right.