Father, you not an absentee God Father, you not an absentee God. You are constantly with us, Revealing new thoughts, doing new things, To make us more aware of you. In making yourself accessible to us, You took a considerable risk. By giving us the freedom to choose our own path, You made yourself vulnerable To disappointment and hostility, As well as to love and obedience.

Your Son Jesus cared for all people Your Son Jesus cared for all people. Some listened to him and followed him, Others hated him; But he was vulnerable and open to all – Pharisee, prostitute, tax collector, Leper, widow, rich, poor. Lord, we confess that in the name of piety We have separated ourselves from the world To which you have opened yourself.

Unlike Jesus who touched the leper, Hugged the demoniac, Accepted the adoration of the prostitute, We seldom see the marginal people of our Society, nor do we touch them. You have called us to be The Body of Christ:

To reflect the openness of Christ to the world, To the powerful and the powerless alike, And to invite them to share his life with us. Make us vulnerable To the poor and needy.

Help us to see that being open to them Is not so much sharing our wealth As sharing their poverty, Not so much sharing our power As sharing their powerlessness, Not so much sharing our respectability As sharing their stigma. For we remember the grace of our Lord Jesus Who, though he was rich, Yet for our sake he became poor, So that by his poverty we might become rich.

Help us to open our lives, Not our church building; To open our home, Not our church halls. Help us to be the servant Not only of the beautiful, the capable, The articulate and well educated, But of the disabled and difficult, The depressed and dispossessed.

Your son Jesus was open to the hostility Of those whose vested interests Were threatened by him.   Give us the courage to be open Not only to praise and affirmation, But also to receive rejection From the ones who oppose your ways.

Most of all, Make us open to you Most of all, Make us open to you. Enter our lives And fill us with the Spirit of Jesus, So that our life together May be a corporate reflection of his presence in the world. Amen.