7.31.22 Prayers of Church & Community, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

LORD God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, give us the eyes of faith … that we might see the glories of your love, the wonders of your creation, the beauty of humanity, and it’s sorrows and pains, too … 

Give us the eyes of faith, we pray, to see the world as you might see it … in all of its goodness, and with all of its sin … to see the glory of those who love, and the horror of those who hate … 

To see with the eyes of Christ, to see with the heart and the soul … to see your love within all things, your love moving hard and fast to set right what has gone wrong, to heal what has been broken, to restore what has been lost … a great love, O LORD, a boundless, fascinating love, repairing the broken wall, laying the foundation of a new world, charting a course to hope and peace … your great love, O God, at work in all things … 

Be with us, we pray, to comfort us in our distress and pain, and to compel us to live in the Larger World … 

Forgive us, O God, if we have used faith to shield ourselves from the sorrows of life … forgive us, O God, if have used the gospel to avoid seeing the need for engagement and sacrifice … forgive us, O God, if have pledged ourselves to follow Christ, but have gone our own way, instead, to serve our own interests. Forgive us, O God, we pray.

Strengthen us with the Holy Spirit … that we might love all the more … that we might give thanks with our entire being, heart, soul, mind and body … to give thanks for the blessings of life, and the opportunities of serving Christ, to be his ambassadors, to share his love, to create the world for which he gave his life.

Be with us, we pray … guard and guide our loved one - our families, our friends … guard and guide our towns and cities, we pray … guard and guide communities of faith - whatever their creed, or how they say it - may the quest for truth never cease, may the effort to live in the Larger World never be set aside, may the love we all desire, may the peace we want, be given away in order to be found … for in the sharing, all is made new, in the giving, we receive … in the building up of others, we ourselves are made new … as you have given unto us in 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. 

7.24.22 Prayers of Church & Community, Westminster Presbyterian Church Pasadena, CA

Eternal Light, Everlasting Goodness, clear our minds, we pray, of the distractions and worries of the day … that we might be focused upon you … attentive to the gospel of our LORD Jesus Christ … sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit … ready to be engaged for the tasks of life, with all that we are, and all that we hope to be.

Strengthen our resolve, we pray, to be just in our thoughts and our deeds … to do the right thing … love in the face of hate, speak truth where lies abound … seek kindness and mercy … to think things through in the light of Christ, to be reasonable and patient … ready to lift up the fallen, help the discouraged, walk with the lonely, cherish the quiet ones, seek out those in the shadows …

Dear God, quite our fears, we pray … it’s easy for us to get lost in bewilderment and panic … to lose our bearings, lose our way … help us, we pray, to abide in Christ, trust his words … be at peace with our life, even as we strive for better days. 

Wash our wounds, we pray; heal our sorrows, comfort us in our distress, walk with us upon the lonely roads we so often have to travel.

We lift up to you, or LORD, our families and friends … our neighbors and co-workers … help us to be present to them, mindful of their needs and sorrows … ready to offer the helping hand.

We pray, O God, for people of faith everywhere - mosques, synagogues, temples, and churches - wherever the truth is sought, wherever love is practiced, wherever the earth is honored, wherever your name, your many names, are hallowed.

We pray for our nation, O God: we pray for our President and Vice President; we pray for our Senators and Representatives; we pray for the Supreme Court and courts throughout the land. We pray for our school boards and teachers; we pray for city councils, mayors, sheriffs, police and fire fighters … we pray for the comfortable and those living on the streets … may those of privilege and power see the humanity in those who are weak and broken … may we all strive for justice … to preserve and purify the American Dream, and seek the highest ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Help us all, O God, to live the Golden Rule, to give freely as been freely given to us … 

All of this, 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. 

7.17.22 Prayers of Church & Community, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

O God of love, O God of peace, Make wars throughout the world to cease; The wrath of the nations now restrain. Give peace, O God, give peace again.

Holy God, Eternal Light, all that is good, and all that is right, impress upon our hearts, we pray, the work and wonder of Christ the LORD … touch our hearts, O God, with your Holy Spirit, revive our faith, deepen our understanding … broaden our minds … help us, we pray, to explore our humanity, to grow in grace, to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

Whom shall we trust but Thee, O LORD? Where rest - but on thy faithful word? None ever called on Thee in vain. Give peace, O God, give peace again.

Holy God, Eternal Light, we’re grateful for this place of worship, this time of prayer and praise … the familiar faces of friends and family, to make new friends and chart a new course … to search our souls, consider our lives… to sit at the feet of Jesus, and learn the things that count.

For we are the people whom you have brought to this time and place, dear God. You have called us in Christ, and in Christ, we reply, with all that we are … we are yours, O God … to you we belong … in body and soul, in life and in death. We are yours, O God.

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. 

7.10.22 Prayer of Church & Community, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 For this world, O God … we give our thanks … the world you’ve created … a world in

motion, fast and slow, teeming with life … taking shape in the blink of an eye, or a snail’s march across a few million years … a world leaving and arriving, evolving in shape and form … full of color, noise, energy, and power … O LORD our God, great is your name, and greatly to be praised … for you are the LORD of color and sound, the LORD of the snail and the LORD of the gull … the LORD of the seven seas and the highest of mountains … the LORD of every creature, great and small … the LORD of all souls, the LORD of heaven and earth, the LORD of times past, the ever-present moment, and a future striving to be born.

O LORD our God, give us, we pray, a deep and abiding sense of your glory, a reverence for life … to see your hand in the shapes and shades of the land, the miracles of love and birth, the cycles of time … the first breath taken and the last breath drawn … dust to dust, earth to earth, ashes to ashes … O LORD our God … it all belongs to you … a universe billions of lightyears in expanse and expanding … every moment, every heartbeat, every kiss, and every song. 

Help us we pray to live as well as we can … with love and patience, kindness and mercy, wisdom and expectation, goodness and decency … to feel the winds of the afternoon and the softness of a child’s hand.

Eternal God, help us, to find solutions to humanity’s distress … to find leaders who will speak the truth and point the way to a generous world of welcome.

Watch over each us, we pray, in the remains of the day; guide and guard our loved ones; grant them fullness of life, and an abundance of love.

We thank you for our church, for the bread and drink of the LORD’s Table … for all that has been, all that is, and all that shall be … for you are at work, O God, in all things, for good … with a love that never dies.

Help us, we pray, to be utterly faithful to Christ … in our toil and in our rest, in our families and in our communities … in the words we speak, and the dreams we have.

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. 

7.3.22 Prayers of Church & Community, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 

With grateful hearts, O God, we gather together … here in this place of hope and peace, and across the digital world - bound together in the great fellowship of Christ.

Here and everywhere, O God, your presence beckons and confirms, invites and ordains, calls and sends … your living, vital, presence, O God, gives life to the world … and with joy, dear God, we greet you in this day of national celebration, praying for our nation’s wellbeing, that more of what we could be, will become all the more, and what we are, more often than we can admit, will become less.

Holy God, we’re mindful of the dead in San Antonio - mothers and fathers, daughters and sons - people seeking a better life, trying their best … dead in the heat of a Texas summer.

The dead are safe in your everlasting arms, O God, but may their memory haunt us, may their plight compel us, may their dreams lead us, to wiser policies and a richer kindness. The very word, immigrant, dear God, has been vilified and used to inflame and infuriate. Help us, we pray, to move beyond such childish behavior, to achieve a more human, and more humane, way of seeing life around us. Not in fear, but in faith, O God … not with anger, but with understanding … not with smallness of mind, but with stillness of heart - to love and to welcome … to share what we have, knowing full well, dear God, that in the sharing of life, life, and more life, accrues.

Holy God, we celebrate our nation’s story today - a story of goodness and hope, AND a story of greed and violence … we tell both stories, O God - because your truth demands of us the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We will not shy away from the details, holy God, nor shirk our duties to build the better day.

Give us, we pray, leaders strong in character and conviction, generous of mind and heart, morally sound and spiritually grounded, faithful to the oath of office, knowing the difference between right and wrong. 

Bless our nation with your love … guide each of us, we pray, to be loyal to Christ and faithful to our nation.

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.