God be with you, And also with you. Let us pray. Come Our Way, Our Truth, Our Life. Counsel us and our leaders in the pathways of peace that by embodying your reconciling purposes all strife might be ended here in these United States and around the world. Reveal your Wisdom to all those in authority - to our President, Congress and Courts, to all public officials in the state of Illinois, in Cook County, here in the village of Glencoe and in all surrounding cities, towns a

“Confirmation is the rite in which we express a mature commitment to Christ, and receive strength from the Holy Spirit through prayer and the laying on of hands by a bishop.” -- The Book of Common Prayer, pg. 860 This past year, I have been helping to prepare a group of St. Elisabeth’s young people for Confirmation. We have worked our way through a common text - “My Faith, My Life” by Jennifer Gamber - exploring theology, Scripture, sacraments, prayer, and the history and or

God be with you, And also with you. Let us pray. O Lord, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, enable your children to hear your voice and follow your leading beyond our wants and fears, from death into life. Fill the hearts and minds of the leaders of the nations with a willingness to follow the urgings of their consciences to act for the benefit of all, particularly the most vulnerable in their communities. We implore your Holy Spirit to guide all par

God be with you. And also with you. Let us pray. O Love that made the distant stars, we thank you today for the wonders of your Creation glimpsed these past weeks through the eyes of the Artemis astronauts and witnessed by our own eyes as spring blossoms gloriously all around us here in Glencoe. This is your world, Eternal God. You ground all being, teach open hearts, and judge your people impartially according to their deeds. We implore you to guide all parties to a ju

God be with you, And also with you. Let us pray. Out of the depths we call to you, O Lord - let your ears consider well the voice of our supplication. You are Creation’s birth and breath, the Resurrection and the Life. You restore the dead to life - dead bodies, dead ideals, dead hopes, dead worlds. Send your revitalizing Spirit into all of our dying - breathe resurrection into the lungs of a polluted Creation, into societies choked with division and violence, into momen

The Road goes ever on and on, Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can, Pursuing it with eager feet, Until it joins some larger way Where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say… -JRR Tolkien, “The Fellowship of the Ring” Holy Week is a lot. Here at St. Elisabeth’s, during this most sacred week of the Christian year, we have services on Palm Sunday and on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and then,

God be with you, And also with you. Let us pray. Shepherd of Souls, you ever provide for the spiritual needs of your Church. Guide those who seek to follow you along right pathways for your Name’s sake. Though at times we find ourselves in the valley of the shadow of death, beset by evil and temptation, despair and doubt; we know that you are ever with us - our comfort and our strength. We pray to you today for your church here in the Evanston Deanery, particularly for the

God be with you, And also with you. Let us pray. We come before your presence, O Strong Rock of Our Salvation with thanksgiving. You offer us in the course of our days an ever-flowing spring of living water, gushing up to life eternal. And you feed us in your Church with the work you call us to do following your will, living out your Good News of mercy, reconciliation and peace in the world around us. We pray to you today for your church in the Evanston Deanery, particular

My native part of the world when I was growing up - Southwest of Cleveland, Ohio - was significantly Roman Catholic territory. Irish, Italian, German, Polish, Slovenian, Slovakian, Romanian, Hungarian…all these Catholic kids whose families had settled in the suburbs after leaving the old ethnic neighborhoods in Cleveland proper. Lots of them went to parochial school but many went to public school too. And so a common public school lunchroom conversation in my childhood a

God be with you, And also with you. Let us pray. O Dawn of all Creation and Mystery Unknown, your ways are not our ways, your thoughts are not our thoughts. Guide us to seek and find your grace and your mercy, your tenderness and your presence in the midst of our daily lives. Give us gratitude for your many blessings which we call to mind now silently or aloud. ( Silence in which thanksgivings may be shared) Save us and enlighten us here in these days of ours, Faithful On

Adapted from the Philmont Hymn and the Scout Law God be with you, And also with you. Let us pray. For silver on the sage, for starlit skies above, for aspen covered hills, for wind in whispering pines, and for those who walk beside us upon the trail, we praise you and we thank you, O God and Maker of All. God in your mercy, Hear our prayer. O God of truth and goodness, you are ever faithful, our ever present helper and our strength - make us trustworthy and good. Make us lo

God be with you, And also with you. Let us pray. Holy One of Blessing, upon the ancient mountain you planted the banner of your eternal kingdom. Enflame our hearts to ever march beneath your standard and not the unfurled flags of the Evil One. Make us and all in your Church a channel of your blessing for a world crying out for grace and mercy, justice and peace. God in your mercy, Hear our prayer. Bless O Lord, we pray, the poor and the grieving today. Lift up all thos

God be with you, And also with you. Let us pray. O God, our Light and our Salvation, we cry to you in times of darkness and despair. As we witness acts of violence, hubris, and injustice in our society, as we hear of disaster, division, and destruction abroad, we turn to you and implore you to uphold, defend, and restore all who sit in the region and shadow of death, particularly in Gaza, Iran, Minnesota, Spain, Syria, and Ukraine. Have mercy and answer us - break the rod

" Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails." — -1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a January and February are months where we do a lot of “business” in the Church. We invite new folks to serve in leadership positions

God be with you, And also with you. Let us pray. Maker of all things, you created the heavens and stretched them out, you spread out the earth and what comes from it, you give breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk on it. We pray to you for this world and all its peoples particularly in places of war, disease, unrest, natural disaster or political oppression. We lift to your power divine and sacred heart in a particular way today the people of Iran, Suda

God be with you, And also with you. Let us pray. Giver of All Good Gifts, a star of wonder led sages to seek and to find you. We thank you today for all that thrills and rejoices our hearts - all that brings brightness and refreshment to our days. Your grace comes down into our ordinary lives like rain upon a mown field. You pour upon us your Spirit as showers water the earth. As we begin a new year, we pause to thank you for all the blessings of our lives, large and small

God be with you, And also with you. Let us pray. Wonderful Counselor, your saving wisdom is that of the mustard seed, of the yeast in the dough, of the distant star barely glimpsed between the thick clouds of night, the wisdom of a tiny infant born in a feed trough in a backwater town. Teach us and all who follow you to seek and to find this wisdom, to listen and hear your good counsel, your incarnate Word spoken into the midst of our lives in those small wonders and signs of

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone… In the bleak midwinter, a stable-place sufficed The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ -from ”In the Bleak Midwinter” by Christina Rossetti In this bleak midwinter, as the glories of autumnal foliage and the warmth of Thanksgiving tables have faded, and we find ourselves facing down months more to come of Midwestern cold and darkness, trudging down icy sidewalks and shoveling snow off our

God be with you, And also with you Let us pray. Creator of the stars of night, we crown you with our praise as Lord of lords, as Ruler of rulers, as King of kings. You reign with grace and mercy, justice and power over heaven and earth, over all you have made, as the God of truth and love. Guide our nation and our leaders in the paths of righteousness and reconciliation. Stand in the midst of this world’s suffering, O Thorn Crowned King, and work mightily for the welfare

God be with you, And also with you. Let us pray. Lord of all hopefulness, your glory fills the morning skies, your brightness shines in starlight. Visit with your everlasting dawn those places where violence, terror, and suffering seem to reign - Sudan and Ukraine, India and Pakistan, and the streets of our cities here in America, particularly the city of Chicago. Impart your inward light to the leaders of the nations that their decisions - and ours - radiate outward into dee