We begin with the sign of our faith:
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit
Loving heavenly Father,
we come to you today asking for your blessing as we are gathered here
together. God you have initiated adoption. You love us
unconditionally and give to us a love for you. You have bonded with
us and you give us the gift of loving and bonding with you. We ask
that this same miraculous love flow between adoptive parents and
their children. Give mothers and fathers an unexplainable bond.
And give the children, many of them wounded by deep rejection, a
supernatural capacity to receive love. Bond them close. Create
family ties where those ties seem impossible. God, for those families
seeking now to adopt, give them courage to persevere. For those
governments that make adoption difficult, break through and ease
the process. With millions of orphans in the world, Lord, release a
wave of new adoptions. Create and expand many families with the
capacity to give and receive love. We ask this in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
A reading from the book of James: Religion
that God our Father accepts as pure and
faultless is this: to look after orphans and
widows in their distress and to keep oneself
from being polluted by the world. (James
1:27) The Word of the Lord
Response: Thanks be to God
A reading from the Holy Gospel according
to Mark: Whoever welcomes one of these
little children in my name welcomes me;
and whoever welcomes me does not
welcome me but the one who sent me.
(Mark 9:37) The Word of the Lord
Response: Thanks be to God
We pray for all the children waiting to be adopted by a loving, compassionate and caring family We pray to the Lord
Response: Lord, hear our prayer
We pray for God to provide all the couples wanting to adopt a child the strength, courage and patience needed We pray to the Lord
Response: Lord, hear our prayer
We pray for the kids adopted to find
peace and love within their new family
The Word of the Lord
Response: Lord, hear our prayer
By Steven Curtis Chapman
I know you’ve heard the stories
But they all sound too good to be trueYou’ve heard about a place called home
But there doesn’t seem to be one for you
So one more night you cry yourself to sleep
And drift off to a distant dream
Where love takes
you in and
everything changes
A miracle starts with
the beat of a heart
When love takes
you home and says
you belong here
The loneliness ends
and a new life
begins
When love takes
you in
And somewhere while you’re sleeping Someone else is dreaming tooCounting down the days untilThey hold you close and say I love youAnd like the rain that falls into the seaIn a moment what has been is lost in what will be
When love takes you in everything changesA miracle starts with the beat of a heart
And this love will never let you goThere is nothing that could ever cause this love to lose its hold
` When love takes you in
everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
When love takes you home and says you
belong here
The loneliness ends and a new life begins
When love takes you in
it takes you in for good
When love takes you in
Loving Heavenly Father, We wish peace for every single one of your childrenAnd to be able to see Your features In every one of them children.May we learn that there are many paths But all lead to You.Help us to know that you have created us For family, togetherness, For peace, for gentleness, For compassion, for caring,
for sharing. May we know that You want us To care for one another as those who know That they are sisters and brothers, members of the same family, Your family, The human family. Help us so that we may be able to live in peace and harmony, Wiping away the tears from the eyes of those Who are less fortunate
than ourselves.
And may we know war no more, As we strive to be What You want us to be: Your children. Amen.
We conclude this service with the sign of
our faith:
In the name of the Father, the Son and of
the Holy Spirit
Amen