Dear Trinity Family and Friends,

“O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet un-trodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; though Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

ELW Evening Prayer [Vespers] page 309

 This has become one of my favorite and most frequent of prayers in my daily life.  I became familiar with it when I was on retreat at Holden Village, a remote retreat center nestled in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state.  It is owned by the ELCA and provides a year round experience of retreat and learning for individuals and families, in addition to renewal and continuing education for clergy, congregation members and any wayward sojourn seeking a quiet place to live in community and find renewal in God’s natural world.

This prayer is inviting, comforting and reassuring.  It invites us as called people of God to not fear moving forward in our life’s ventures nor to fear reflecting on the past. 

The comfort for me is that it is God who has “called” and accompanies along the journey or “ventures”.  It is reassuring because I can rest, with confidence and faith that I am able to move forward without hesitation; knowing that despite the questions, challenges, or hesitations I will NOT be alone.  I love the words: “with good courage”…because I need all the courage I can get on some days!  My faith and trust allows me to grasp the hand of God that leads and supports me….even when I falter.

I hope you snip this little prayer out, or write it down somewhere you can see it often, because it is a prayer for all of us…anywhere, anytime.  It is indeed a prayer for beginnings and endings and everything in-between. 

As you go forward into the months of July and August, go with “good courage” and hold on to the promise that we don’t “venture” alone.  God is with us, leading us, and supporting us.

Pastor Carol