Opening Invocation for an Ordinary Congregation

Here’s an opening invocation from Katie Cook.

Invocation for an Ordinary Congregation

Holy God, we come together to worship,
a people who would like to think that we love you
with all our hearts and souls,
with all our might,                                             

but there are so many other things in our lives   
that clamor for our attention
that we often relegate you to Sundays
and Wednesdays,
and times when we want you to rescue us.

Most of us really do want you to be the one
in whom we live and move and have our being.
We really do want to hear your voice
above all of the other voices in our lives.
But we get bogged down in the daily routine.
We forget who we are.
We forget who you are.
We forget what the church is supposed to be.

So here we are, standing before you today,
with our human foibles
and our short attention spans,
asking that you would make yourself known to us,
that you would help us to recognize
the presence of the Holy,
that you would continue to challenge us,
inspire us,
and make us into the people you want us to be.

Amen. 

~ written by Katie Cook, in Sacred Seasons, Pentecost/Ordinary Time 2000. Posted on Simple Living Works. http://simpleliving.startlogic.com/indexoth.php?place=archives/Articles/WorshipAltItems3.php