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

Eternal God, always our father, forever our mother … source of light, wellspring of love … alpha and omega, the beginning and the end … 

All glory, laud, and honor to you, dear God … our praise, thanksgiving, and hope … in the company of Christ, led by your Holy Spirit, we are your people, in this place, and for these times.

We take up our cross of care and service, with gratitude and with reluctance … bless our gratitude and deepen it, we pray … manage our reluctance that it not win the day.

In such times, O God, times of uncertainty … competing narratives, truth and lies commingled, power worshipped, glitz and glamour overwhelming our capacities to think.

By your Holy Spirit, dear God, help us to maintain our balance … keep up our spiritual health and that of our bodies … give to us , we pray, the discernment of the Prophets, the passion of Moses, the wisdom of Solomon, and the focus of Christ.

We pray for our Food Pantry … giving thanks that we can make a difference for people who are food insecure … for whom life is difficult and sometimes dangerous.

We pray for our communities, O LORD, our government leaders, our schools and teachers, our police forces and firefighters … a host of people who protect and guide us … public servants for the common good.

We pray for loved ones, dear God … keep them safe in their comings and goings … where there is illness, provide relief and healing … where there is death, grant the comfort of Christ … where there is despair, O God, grant the light of hope … where there is conflict and anger, give refreshment of spirit, and a new determination to build a better world.

Help us, O God, to fulfill our purpose, in this life, and for the life to come … to be servants of love, to create hope and peace, to seek what’s best in the human story, and that which is eternally true, and forever good.

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. 

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

God of light and God of hope.

We gather in this place and by our computers and TV … you bind us together, O God, in one great fellowship of faith, the church of Jesus Christ … 

We give thanks, O God, for those who came before us … they tackled their problems with faith, hope, and love … they did their best … they made mistakes and learned from their errors … they got on their knees and prayed with tears … they paved the way, they paid the way … they built a church, and raised a tower … they did their best, dear God, and to that purpose, we set ourselves, as well …

Equip us with your Holy Spirit … shape our souls toward the image of Christ … there is much in ourselves that needs adjustment … we’re not innocent in the ways of life, nor are we without fault. Deliver us, we pray, from all that deceives … the allurements of cheap trade and easy gain … the enslavement of the Immediate and the Now, and our neglect of the future.

We pray for our loved ones, O God … we pray for our church and spiritual houses of faith all around the land and across the world … we pray for our nation, and the nations of the world … especially where war rages, hunger threatens, poverty engulfs, dictators bluster, inept politicians play loose and free with the truth … help us, dear God, to seek the truth, to reach for love, to learn the Gospel, to be evermore faithful in the things of Christ.

Bless us now, we pray, in the remains of the day … give us rest for mind and body, courage of spirit and soul … help us count our days to be wise in our living … to be mindful of our mortality and the reality of eternity. Help us, we pray, to count our blessings to see what you have done … to reach high for faith, hope, and love … grace, mercy, and peace.

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. 

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

Eternal God, we are here for some terribly important reasons …

We’re here, O God, to find that which is true … that which fulfills the longing of the soul,

creates the virtues of faith and polishes the skills of living.

We’re here, O God, to pursue that which is worthy of our humanity … to learn and grow in the grace of Christ, to explore the never-ending realms of faith … to discover new dimensions of our humanity, and what it means to be followers of Christ.

We’re here, O God, to learn of self-love, the kind of self-love that makes sense, and is wholesome and right … the kind of self-love, dear God, that has plenty room for the lives and needs of others, and plenty of energy to love them creatively… to help and to heal, to lift up and restore, to open doors of opportunity, to repair the roads of hope and peace, roads often destroyed by human folly and social failure … roads barred to the many, and open only to the few … we’re here, O God, to change ourselves, so we can change the world …  

For the world, we pray … especially for the people of Great Briton, and the family of Queen Elizabeth, and her son, King Charles III … bless them, one and all … and all the nations of the world, diverse and unique, friend or foe, frightened or frightening … let the bells of peace ring loud and clear.

And for our nation, dear God - on this day of remembrance … 9/11, 2001 … of those who lost loved ones, bless their broken hearts; dry their tears; provide mercy and hope.

And may our leaders be faithful to their vows of public service … may they point us always toward wisdom … may their words inspire us to give more of ourselves to the tasks at hand … may we all find within ourselves the better angels of faith, hope, and love.

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. 

9.4.22 Prayers of Church & Community, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena

In the turn of the seasons, O God, we see the drama of life … from one era to another … from beginning to end, and then, again … from generation to generation, O God … and for the time being, here we are, O LORD, help us, we pray, to be loving and kind … 

In the hard places of life, O God, when mortality presses in upon us, when life takes a turn to sorrow, when our losses mount up, and our gains diminish, help us, we pray, to seek your council, to find consolation in the good things that remain, to be patient in tribulation, to trust your goodness in all moments of life, to work with all our might for the better world … to use our talents in the time and place where we find ourselves … to bring joy to another by hearing their story … to plant a garden, make some soup … craft a poem, paint a portrait, build a birdhouse, tell a joke, join a reading group, read more Scripture, pray more deliberately and pray more mindfully … O God of work and rest, help us to rest in Christ that we can work well in our world.

We pray for our nation … give us leaders to reflect the best in our story - and honestly admit the worst of it … help us we pray to cherish the best, and to challenge the worst … to never cease working for the better day, for liberty and justice for all.

We pray for the people of Ukraine, O God … we pray for the earth, water, and air of that lovely land … for the animals and the people … so much suffering, sorrow, and loss … we pray for a just resolve, the end of armed conflict, and peace at the last.

We pray for Westminster Presbyterian Church … grateful the Tower still stands … 

We pray for our families and friends, our neighbors and co-workers … keep them safe and sound in their comings and going … help us all, dear God, to live with compassion, kindness and constancy.

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.