Gracious God,
You have called us your own. Once we were no people, but now we are yours. Water-washed, spirit-born, chosen, beloved. You embrace us with a love that is steadfast and everlasting, and your mercies are new each day. We give you thanks and praise for calling us out of the darkness into the marvelous light of your grace.
We rejoice in our calling, O God, and we are grateful for the grace shown us that we did not earn and do not deserve. We celebrate that our calling is not only to love you, to worship you, and to adore you, but also to reach out in love and service to our neighbors. We are called, and we are sent.
Go, you said, to a land of promise. And the people of God went. Go, you said, to the prophets, and they went, to see justice roll down like waters. Go, you said, to searchers and the seekers, to Mary and to Joseph, to magi and shepherds and fisherfolk and the least and the lost. Go, you said, to the disciples, and make disciples and teach and witness.
You have called us, loving God, and sent us, and we claim this truth, too: you go before us. We go to witness your work in saving, redeeming, and making new. We go to participate in your work of healing and sharing, of learning and of growing, of feeding and offering hope. With glad hearts, we your people, called and blessed, go.
We pray that our gifts, shared out of your abundance, and our work, enabled by the power of your Holy Spirit, may be a sign of your beloved community, that all may know of your call upon their hearts and lives, so that they, hearing, may go forth to serve others as well. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Written by Rev. Larry Bowden. Used with permission.