Welcome to a Gathering of EChurch@Wartburg

The TWW community would love to pray for you!

Please include your prayer request in the comment section of this post. 

Bench in Highland Park in the Fall Under a Sycamore Tree

Please keep those impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in your prayers.

Here is our Order of Worship

A Prayer for the Fall link

Gracious God, As the season changes, we are reminded that you are an unchanging God,
but it is your desire to continue to change us–to mold and shape us,
to teach us to have faith like a child. Lord, be our teacher!
Lord, teach us to praise. We praise you for awe, wonder,
and excitement as new programs and plans are introduced in our denomination and individual churches this fall.
Lord, teach us to confess. At this time of year, we are inundated with busyness.
Forgive us, Lord, when our busyness overshadows you. Lord, teach us to be thankful.
We are thankful that in teaching us, you change us. Teach us, Lord, to trust in you for guidance and direction.
Lord, help us realize the magnitude of your grace and then to teach others what it means to live with that grace.
As we seek to further your kingdom, fill us with the same exuberance, wonder,
and awe that we see in children at the beginning of a new school year.
Amen

Prayers for those who have suffered abuse link

Almighty God & Everlasting Lord,
You are the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
We pray this week for those who have been abused within our churches and the wider communities across our nation.

Have compassion upon all who have suffered the injustice, humiliation and pain of abuse
– sexual, physical, emotional, spiritual and all other forms of sinful conduct.

In the midst of their distressing circumstances, give them courage to speak.
May your perfect love drive out fear and anxiety.
In your mercy, create opportunities for these men, women and children to share their pain,
reveal their struggles and expose the hurtful actions of others.

Give grace, sensitivity and wisdom to all who will minister to the victims and survivors of abuse.
Strengthen those who have been abused with the certainty of your love for them.
In all things, we ask that your name be glorified and that we – your people –
do justice, love kindness and walk humbly before you.

We humbly plead these things in the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, 
who died and rose and now sits at your right hand in glory.
Amen.

Scripture Reading:  Luke 19:1-10 (NASB Bible Gateway)

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich. Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way. When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Prayer attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi link

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
where there is injury, pardon
where there is doubt, faith
where there is despair, hope
where there is darkness, light
and where there is sadness, joy

O, Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console
to be understood as to understand
to be loved as to love
for it is in giving that we receive
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life
Amen

Benediction – Numbers 6:24-26 link

The Lord bless you, and keep you:
The Lord make his face shine upon you
and be gracious unto you:  
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
and give you peace. 
Amen