God – it is hard to say what you look like. We struggle to understand who you are.
But we trust that you love each one of us.
When we try to measure your love we come up short
If we tried to count your love we would get to 100 and keep counting –
higher than a million,
a trillion,
a decillion,
it would have more decimal points than Pi.
Your love is taller than the tallest trees,
taller than giraffes,
taller than this church steeple,
taller even than outer space.
Your love is wider than a Hippo
Wider than a string of offensive lineman
Wider than the Hogwarts Express
Wider than a whale or even the ocean it swims in.
Your love is deeper than the Grand Canyon
Deeper than where the tree roots go.
If you went to the bottom of a bottomless pit your love would be deeper still.
We may never understand the height
Or the width
Or the depth
Of your love,
But we do feel it.
We feel love whenever we hear the words “I love you.”
We feel love cuddling with pets or parents
Or when an old teacher recognizes me and calls me by name.
We feel love blowing out birthday candles
Or when Sugar cookies come fresh out of the oven and one of them has my name on it.
Today we want to say thank you for that love that is always around us.
Your love is what makes us brave when we have to do hard things
Like getting stitches, or taking yucky medicine or being alone in the dark.
Like walking on a trail when there might be snakes;
Or when there is a real lockdown at our schools.
Your love is what helps us brave bee stings and all as we enjoy the gift of this life.
Not everyone knows this kind of love, God, and that makes our heart hurt.
We pray for children who are lonely or hurting.
We pray for people who are hurt in a hurricane or storm.
We pray for people who are sad that a loved one has died.
We pray for people who are scared because of sickness or war.
Sometimes it’s hard to just pray for people.
We want to help, too.
Of course people are always telling us that we’re too small
or not strong enough.
But not you, God.
You tell us that we matter
and that with you by our side we can accomplish amazing things.
Show us how we can help somebody this week.
Open our eyes to see
and our ears to hear
those who are asking for a helping hand.
And Humble us, too, so that we might accept help as well.
Because none of us can do life alone.
Teach us to be braver than we think we ever could be.
Brave like Jesus was brave.
Who knows?
Maybe together we can do the kinds of things that Jesus did.
It is in Jesus’ name that we pray together, saying:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.