Help us, O God, to be a people of praise!
Full of love and grace.
With open arms and kindly ways.
To be a people who can see the world for what it will be.
A people who live for Christ.
We thank you, O God, for a season called Advent … for the power of hope …
For your promises to Abraham and Sarah …
Your promises to David and to Solomon …
And your promise in the prophet Jeremiah – that the days are surely coming when justice will prevail and righteousness govern the affairs of humankind.
Teach us with your Holy Spirit, O God, that your Word is no pipedream – it is the world that lives in illusion; Christ is reality.
O LORD our God, give us a great strength today, a Christ-like strength:
To live our lives as best we can.
To be responsible for our corner of the world.
To savor life’s goodness.
To enjoy friends and family.
To appreciate the smallest blessings of life.
To look upon one another with favor.
To forgive quickly and never hold a grudge.
To flow around obstacles, to bend and to adjust.
To love deeply as we want others to love us.
To forgive our debtors as you have forgiven our debts.
To share with others our daily bread.
Remind us, O God, that you are at work in our lives.
That you are at work in all things for good.
Teach us that we are yours, that nothing can separate us from your great love, given to us in Jesus Christ our LORD.
Fill us anew with your Holy Spirit:
That we might have confidence.
That we could leave here today filled with hope and peace of mind.
Knowing that we’re headed in the right direction.
That our lives count.
That our love and worship make a true and lasting difference in this world …
To make a child smile today.
To heal a breached relationship, or at least, to try.
To email a friend with whom we’ve lost touch.
To know that we can always back up and start all over again … that spilled milk can be wiped up … and harsh words can be forgotten.
Sometimes, LORD, we’re like an old piece of clay that’s been sitting out in the sun for many a day – our attitudes have hardened, and our love has grown brittle.
Sometimes, LORD, we just walk away from you … maybe we show up here, but our hearts are somewhere else.
Sometimes we’re weighed down with worries … we get lost in our fears of what the future might hold …
Sometimes, LORD, we’re just stuck in ourselves … me, myself and mine … and we don’t know how to get out.
We need your tender care.
We need your everlasting arms wrapped around us today.
We need your love more than ever.
We cannot do this on our own, O LORD.
Come to us, we pray, in mercy.
Reveal to us your love.
Heal our wounds.
Restore our courage.
Put joy into our hearts.
And brings us close to Christ.
In his name we pray,
Saying together, with one heart and mind, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven …
lOVE THE PRAYER. SO DOWN-TO-EARTH. APPRECIATINGLY, Glenn Yap, frm Assumption Church PJ, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
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