Offertory Prayer

Loving God of both comfort and challenge; we have been blessed to know the feeling of being surrounded in your loving arms like a child. Yet we also know that is not a place we can stay. You send us to be part of the world – with all its ugliness, anger, hate, deceit, and betrayals – but not of the world. You call us to give, so that love, compassion, and hope might be set loose. We are not giving as those who are of the world – expecting to receive in the transaction. We give instead out of gratitude for your loving heart, made known to us in Christ. Use us in this way, we pray in the blessed name of Christ, who by your love overcame death. Amen. (John 17:6-19)