Albany Lutheran Cluster Prayer
Dear Lord,
As we bow our heads and focus our thoughts, thank you for this day, for this time that we come together to work to improve the cooperation and interaction between our congregations.
Help us today to share our strengths and explore our weaknesses; to find ways to minimize our duplications in effort and resources, so our churches may spend more time in witness and mission work. As you energize us in and with our faith, show us new opportunities and places for our parishioners to find and know God’s love. Embolden us when we are fearful and help us all to continue and encourage the celebration and praise of who we are in Christ.
Thank you for the impediments or challenges you have placed in our path, which may really be opportunities for inspiration in disguise. You have given us an opportunity to explore the differences and find the similarities within our synods – ELCA & LCMS, within our geographic locations – urban & suburban, within the ages of our congregations – the old & the new.
Embolden us to overcome our short sightedness and fears, of what or why we cannot name and don’t really know. Open our eyes and minds and hearts to see beyond our usual routines and customs, to glimpse you from a different perspective. Show us how to share our enthusiasm for this proposal, so our members can know each other as we have come to know each other. Help us find the way to take that leap and realize your plan is not dependent on a building or a person. Help us too, to examine what the pain of loss and grief and failure may feel like in our congregations, while at the same time trusting that you will take us through that ache to find the new and exciting possibilities that will be within reach.
To you be the glory! We ask this all in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Albany Lutheran Cluster Mission Statement
The Albany Lutheran Cluster is a group of Lutheran congregations where God’s children are walking together, sharing their gifts and growing in God’s love.
They have come “clustered” together to improve performance and the availability (realization, fulfillment, successfulness) over that of any one of the single churches. We do this by sharing resources (people, buildings, ideas, staff, etc.), collaborating with each other on worship, evangelism, and social outreach projects; exploring ways to deepen relationships and connections between the congregations and the people in them; and by sharing our faith with each other and our communities.
We are a work in progress seeking the Spirit’s direction for the future.