Dear God, we lift our thoughts upward …
We look to you … and to your Son, Jesus Christ our LORD.
To find solace for our troubles …
Hope for our journey …
Guidance for the hard decisions we have to make …
Wisdom to make mid-course correction.
Courage to live life to the full …
To love and be loved …
To forgive and be forgiven …
To serve and be served …
To make something of these lives of ours …
Worthy of Christ …
A discipleship life …
A cross-carrying life …
A Christ-centered life …
To spread the word …
That he is risen from the dead,
Ascended into heaven,
And shall come again to finish the work.
To put things to right …
And make all things new.
Help us, we pray, to live in your Kingdom,
So we can live well in our world.
Use us, we pray, as a catalyst for good.
That your love might flow through us to friends and neighbors.
Help us, we pray, to enjoy our life.
To find pleasure in the simplest of things …
To taste our food with thanksgiving …
Enjoy a drink with gratitude …
Mow our lawn and till a garden,
Remodel our home and repaint a few rooms.
Make the bed and scramble some eggs …
O God, we give you thanks …
To keep our eyes wide open to the beauty of your world …
The glory of the sun …
Crashing surf …
Mountain grandeur …
A towering pine …
A babbling brook …
O God, we give you thanks …
And to celebrate what humankind can do.
To celebrate the human spirit rising to the occasion …
The dreams and visions that inspire people beyond themselves …
The women and men of business and industry …
Those who entertain us and make us laugh …
The woman who wields an acetylene torch and the man who turns the wrench …
The pilot in the cockpit and the baggage handler on the ground …
The surgeon and the nurse …
The guy in the golf cart and the man on the lawnmower …
Remind us, God, that in spite of our social differences, we are all human beings, created in your image.
We all want to love and be loved.
Our lives are finally rather simple, O God;
Help us to keep that straight …
And when the social gap grows to large,
When the powerful are too powerful,
And the poor are too poor,
Help us to act …
Help us to be wise …
Help us to make the adjustments we need …
To right the ship of state …
To make it better for all …
You have endowed us, O God, with tremendous gifts …
You have given us a generous portion of your very own power … to create and make things right.
You have given us your wisdom, energy and drive.
You have given us the ability to do great things.
Help us, we pray:
To live well …
To laugh often …
To bring light to dark places …
And comfort to the grieving …
We can do these things, O God,
In Christ, who strengthens us.
Praying now as he taught us to pray, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven …
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