Come Holy God and be among us! We are surrounded by the beauty of your creation; snow flakes now mingled with the early blossoms of trees and bushes; new snow on the mountains, ground that we thought might now be white, is green again. Winter has only made a feint appearance; Spring still prevails though it has come so early - so early that your creatures and creations are unsure of what comes next. Perhaps it's somewhat like the sign of the covenant you made with your people thousands of years ago - a covenant extended down through the generations even unto ourselves. Though we may not always remember, we know that you do not forget; You keep the covenant that You made - and there is still the same sign- your bow in the clouds - a reminder of the everlasting covenant made between you, O Holy God, and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth, including ourselves.

Come Holy God and be among us! Come and hear our prayers for one another - our families and loved ones; those of our church community both present and absent! We remember those who grieve the loss of loved ones; those who grieve the loss of a job and those who search and cannot find work; we rejoice with those who have welcomed new little ones into their family circles and we pray for Gyata and Jerry as Gyata carries a precious new life within her. We pray for those who are sick and those facing serious and ongoing illness. We pray for those who facing life-changing decisions: Muriel, Pat, Allan. We pray now for those we each remember in our hearts........

Come Holy God and be among us! Dare we be so bold to issue such an invitation to You? You who are always with us, while it is we who turn away from you. Once more we bid you come and you are here. We are so grateful that you do not turn your back on us. This week we have entered once again into the Season of Lent! The annual Journey begins, and, You call us once again to come walk with you on this Journey. This is the journey with Jesus through his life from Nazareth, to the banks of the Jordan, to the wilderness, through the towns and villages of Galilee and beyond and then on to Jerusalem, and to the cross! You call us to be faithful to this Journey - through to the end. At this time in history we have the advantage of knowing where and how the journey ends, and still we are reluctant to go. Some of us don't want to go again over familiar ground; some of us don't want to face the darkness again. It is a familiar journey and yet a journey that is ever new. It a journey from a promise and a covenant towards light and then darkness and then ..... Making this journey through Lent is our wilderness time - our time of facing the darkness in our own lives - that which keeps us from following Jesus, as one of his disciples - that keep us from responding to the call to Radical Love - the kind of love with which Jesus loves us - and calls us to love others.

Come Holy God and be among us! There is much unrest and conflict in our world. We seem far removed from most of it, but know now in our Global world, that what affects others also affects us - and we are called - called to respond each in our own way according to the call we hear. We pray that you will be with the leaders, the decision makers, as they make decisions which will affect so many - so many who may be the innocent victims - victims of what some see as a bigger and more noble cause. War and famine; conflict in the name of deep held beliefs; of sacred trusts --- these are too big for us and we often don't know how or what to pray, so we simply and humbly pray that you will be with each of them and all of them, and with us.. We want peace; we want land to share with those who have no home and no place to call their own, and we want food enough for all. Teach us how to live and love that all may have enough.

Come Holy God and be among us! Hear all these our prayers - spoken and unspoken - and hear us as we pray together now, as Jesus taught us: