Prayer For and Assurance of Grace for January 17, 2016

Seed-sower, you spread your word of hope widely.

Trusting that when conditions are right, growth will occur.

Teacher, you share your word of hope in ways that confuse and confound us.

Trusting that we will have ears to hear and hearts to understand.

Light of the World, you shine for all to see.

Challenging us to pass on the light.

But the reality sometimes falls short of the hope.

Our ears are tin and we do not hear, we fail to pass on the light.

You challenge us to spread the seed and trust that you will give the growth.

And we want to be prudent and effective and only do what gets guaranteed results.

God of Grace, open our ears and hearts to understand your confounding wisdom, move us to trust and share.

God of Grace, whose grace moves in us with each heartbeat, help us live as people of grace. Amen.