Sunday, June 14, 2009

June 14, 2009 - Prayers of the People

What would you have us do, O God?
How shall we live our lives?
What does it mean, O God, to follow Jesus the Messiah?
We have these questions, O God.
We’re not always sure how to live in Jesus’ name.

But we’re here today, O God,
In Jesus’ name.
We believe in spite of our unbelief.
We trust, though we cannot see.
We do our best, O God, we do our best.

But save us, we pray, from sloth …
From a lazy spirit …
An indolent mind …

Fire us with your Holy Spirit.
Let our hearts burn with desire for the pearl of great price – for Jesus the Messiah – our LORD and our Savior.
Give us a raging thirst for righteousness in our world.
Give us a hunger for justice …
That we can say with integrity: thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven …

O LORD our God, save us from cheap religion – there’s plenty of it in this world of ours.
Save us from shallow convictions and easy slogans.
Save us from a Sunday-only kind of faith …
Save us from such things …
That we might be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

We come to you this morning with humility and hope.
We are humble and without pretense.
We bring so little to the Table.
But what we bring is precious in your sight:
We bring our hearts, empty and ready.
Our hands, open to receive your assignment.

We are filled with hope, because of your love.
You are at work in all things for good.
For our good, and for the good of the world.

LORD, help us to be on your side of things.
To see with your eyes the least of these,
Whom the world is likely to overlook and even shun.

Fill our lives with the words and wonder of Scripture …
The stories of Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Miriam, Samuel and David …
Fill our lives with the conscience of the prophets … and the courage of Paul and Peter, Mary and Elizabeth …
Fill our souls with Christ.
More of him and less of ourselves …
So that we can be more in faith, hope and love.
More in compassion and more in goodness.

Serving him who alone is worthy of our devotion, even Jesus Christ our LORD, who taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done …

No comments:

Post a Comment