Here I am, send me.

The prayer which will be used later this morning (7am) to send us off from the parking lot at Emmanuel was adapted from one found on the blog of Jonny Baker.
Jonny is a member of Grace, a small creative community operating in Ealing, London, UK.(The only author attribution I could find within his blog for this prayer was "Jen").


God of broken people and places,
We confess to You our love of comfort,
of the known and predictable,
of the safe and secure.
We recognize that You continually call us into uncharted arenas,
into 'unknowingness' and discomfort.

You call us to leave what we know and venture with You into desert and wilderness;
to leave what we know and venture with You into new things:
into engagement and participation,
into creativity and risk,
into new structures, new ways of being;
to find new ways of seeing You.

We often want to follow You, but its' hard to leave what we know
when we're not entirely sure where we're going
or what we'll encounter when we get there.

We thank You for allowing us to respond to Your call;
for time in which to hear You;
for space in which to listen, to grow, to create,
to be challenged and changed.
We recognize that You are calling us deeper into our journey of faith.
Help us to trust You and to set out.

Far we have come, far we must go.

God of redeemed people and rebuilt places,
You have plans for deserts and wilderness.
"Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
grass and reeds and papyrus will grow
and a highway will be there;
it will be called 'the Way of Holiness'.

God of transformation,
we look forward to what You will do with our lives,
by Your grace.

On the journey of faith,
far we have come, far we must go.