We pray for the well-being of our nation … that your Holy Spirit would raise up for us in these tempestuous time great women and great men, to stand tall above the noise and foolishness of partisan politics, and mean-spirited prejudice … leaders to build bridges and tear down the fences …
Who speak truth to us, rather than terror.
Who live in faith, not in fear.
Who shake hands before they shake their heads.
Who attack problems rather than people.
We pray for our nation, O LORD!
We pray for our community of faith, for Covenant on the Corner … that we may be faithful to you, O God.
Faithful in prayer and study,
Faithful in service and sacrifice,
Faithful to Christ and faithful to the gospel,
Faithful in worship and faithful in our work.
We pray for Covenant on the Corner!
This morning, O God, we’re mindful of a multitude of needs …
To find employment …
To handle personal issues …
To overcome addictions and habits, behaviors and attitudes …
To be more loving, more engaged, more involved.
More tolerant and more creative.
More thoughtful and more prayerful.
Especially, we’re mindful of folks losing their homes to the fires in Angeles National Forest …
Creatures, great and small, who flee the flames or lose their life … mighty trees and quiet streams … rugged canyons and soaring peaks …
And those who put their lives on the line to fight the fires … we thank you, O God, for the resources of federal and state agencies – all who work in human service.
This morning, we pray:
For the healing of bodies, and for the healing for souls …
Healing for:
Relationships broken – broken by misspoken words and mistaken deeds … misunderstandings and plain old stubbornness and self-centeredness … the junk of life, the debris of sin.
Healing of hope … and the healing of our dreams.
The healing of our nation, and the healing of our world.
We pray for our schools, and for those who administer them.
We pray for teachers, and for the students who fill their classrooms.
We pray for the parents, for the homes they make and for the dreams they launch in the minds of their children.
We pray for rabbis and imams and priests and pastors.
We pray for Bible study leaders and mission travelers.
We pray for youth leaders and choir directors.
We pray for religious charities and soup kitchens and clothing centers and food pantries and community gardens and YMCAs and youth clubs and parole officers and guidance counselors and therapists and police officers and fire fighters and soldiers and nurses and doctors and attorneys and judges and park rangers and postal carriers and restaurant cooks and wait staff and bar tenders and entertainers and film makers and life guards and farmers and butchers and bakers and candlestick makers …
Use us, we pray, for the sake of your kingdom.
That’s why we’re here, LORD.
To be used of Christ,
To be his ambassadors,
Fools for him, if need be.
In the name of our LORD Jesus Christ who taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven …
And the people said, "Amen."
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