April 24, 2022, Prayers of the People, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena

 Prayers of the People, Sunday, April 24

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Eternal God, Holy God, loving God, by your word we are created … we find love by your love … we see light in your light.

Help us, this day, to see ourselves clearly … to live and to laugh, to sing and to dance … to care for your earth and to build the world, a world fit for all your creatures, great and small.

Help us to pay attention to the people with whom we have commerce - the call-center voice trying to answer our questions … the receptionist checking us in for our appointment … the teen sitting in her car at the light, next to us, bouncing away with her music … the bedraggled lady in the roadway median with a sign asking for help … help us to pay attention to them, dear God … they are human beings; they have family and friends - someone knows the deeps of their soul, the struggles they have, the burdens they carry, the love they want, the life they have to live. 

We give them to you, O LORD … we give them a smile, a nod of the head, a word spoken gently - to let them know that we see them, hear them, because they are worth more than gold, created in your image … and help us, Dear God, to order our society in ways that are consistent with our better angels … the angels of compassion and generosity - a society, O God, that cares for everyone, whatever the need, however life has turned out.

Help our loved ones, O God … their wellbeing, their health, their ambitions and dreams. Bless us, too, O LORD, who gather here - we, too, need your healing, your guidance, your mercy, your love … on our own road of life. 

Help our world leaders to quiet the dogs of war, to seek the angels of peace … to back away from brinkmanship, to choose diplomacy over armed threat … to be leaders of hope rather than tyrants of fear.

Bless Westminster Presbyterian Church, Dear God, that we might grow all the more in the grace and wisdom of our LORD Jesus Christ … that our Tower would remain a beacon of hope for all the world, and our life together, a sign of your kingdom, a sign of goodness and compassion.

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. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.