Monday, July 6, 2015

Pastoral Prayer, July 5, 2015

First Congregational Church of Los Angeles

We pray, dear God, for lots of reasons.
Reasons we don’t even fully understand.
Sometimes we’re desperate, LORD.
Sometime we’re angry, so angry, we frighten ourselves.
Sometimes, LORD, we’re filled with joy.
A cup overflowing …
Our hearts dance with pleasure, and we say, Thank You!

On this weekend, O God, we’re mindful of our nation.
Our Founding Mothers and Fathers.
A vision of liberty and justice for all.

LORD, there is goodness in our DNA, a bright and beautiful thread woven into the tapestry of our story, and we thank you.

Help us, we pray, to strengthen that goodness all the more:
Creative energies to find new ways for better living.
Generosity to build universities and hospitals.
A social security network to leave no one behind.

Yet in your kindness, O God, keep our sins ever before us.
Do not, we pray, let us be blinded by our goodness, lest we become victims of sinful pride and the idolatry of nation.

We admit, O LORD, and we confess:
We haven’t always done the right thing.
With Native Americans whose land this was.
Chinese laborers who built our railroads.
Africans enslaved to harvest sugar and cotton.

O LORD our God, stir our conscience, press in upon us, that we might be more than we are … 

And we will sing, O God, with joy and hope:

“My country ’tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountain side, Let freedom ring.” Hallelujah and Amen!

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