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

Give us your ears, O God, to hear the blood of Abel crying from the earth … to hear the lament of the lost … the cry of the frightened … give us your ears, O God, to hear the sounds angels singing in the highest of heavens, and the sounds of life all around us … every word of hope, every song of peace … give us your ears, we pray, to hear the whole song of the earth … the sweet refrains of love, and the laments of loss.

Holy is your name, O God … worthy of our praise and our prayers … for you are the God of hope, the God of peace and the God love … you hear every prayer in every tongue … you answer every prayer with tender regard and mercy. 

With faith, hope, and love, O God, we worship you in this place of peace and welcome … we set aside the cares and worries of the day … we lay down our burdens at the foot of the cross … we tarry with Christ in that darkness, to find the light of love … 

With the saints of old, we join in the chorus of hope … that our lives count for great things … that every prayer we utter spins this world a bit closer to you … 

In these moments of prayer and contemplation, we pray for those in distress … and especially we pray for Ukraine and the powers that be, that the present conflict escalate no further, that wise heads and thoughtful hearts would find a just peace.

We pray the youth of our nation … that we’ll do well by them … with good schools and safe neighborhoods … with plenty of family support and social wisdom. Remind us, O God, that we are all sisters and brothers of one another, that the welfare of one is the welfare of all … do not let us slide, we pray, into sectarian camps and social constructs hedged by walls and suspicion. For we are of Christ, O God. The Christ of the world, and not the Christ of the few.

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. 

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

Eternal God, to you we belong … forever and a day …

You are the God of tender words, to assure us of your mercy, to help us with your grace …

O LORD our God, your hand is upon our nation, in this season of elections … voices clamoring for our attention, our money, our vote … help us, we pray, to think carefully, to weigh and ponder the claims and counter-claims … help us, we pray, to think of Christ … to consider carefully the values we hold in his name … clear our eyes that we might see your goodness at work in all things … and hear your voice amid all the clamor.

O LORD our God, there are some who would impose a restrictive Christianity upon this nation - give them the grace of second thought, heal their wounds, sooth their fearful souls with Amazing Grace - the grace that sets us free. 

We give thanks that Christ is universal … the Christ of all humanity, in all the matters of faith and prayer … your presence, O God, in the Mosque, your presence in the Temple, your presence in the Synagog … your presence everywhere … in every tear and every sigh … in every moment of love, and in the wretched hatreds so common to the human story … you are there, too … in the smallest notes of tenderness, to the largest moments of history, where freedom rings and liberty shines.

We pray for family and friends, O God … for healing, hope, and guidance … see us all through the days and nights of life … until our appointed end is met, and like all who have trod these weary and wonderful roads before us, to be gathered up in your everlasting arms.

Bless Westminster Presbyterian Church, dear God … we are grateful to be here, and we promise, with heart and soul, mind and body, to be faithful to your son, Jesus Christ, our blessed LORD and Savior … in his light, we see light … in his mercy, we gain hope … in his grace, we discover healing and fresh purpose.

Watch over us now in the remains of the day … see us through to the night, and grant us sleep … should it be your will, O God, awaken us anew for the morrow … for the week ahead, and the work awaiting - love to be given, love to be received.

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. 

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

Eternal God, in these moments of worship and wonder, help us set aside our concerns and ambitions, to focus on Christ and the faith of the church; to recalibrate our souls and learn anew of your kingdom; to ponder the eternal questions that lift the human journey - from the pursuit of self, to the quest for your justice and peace … and in our faithfulness, O LORD, in our determination to serve Christ, unfold for us, we pray, the pathways of our life, that we might truly know ourselves, and discover the riches of your kingdom, treasures that neither moth nor rust consume, nor thief break in and steal.

We pray for our world, especially those lands torn by war … we pray for the earth and the animals, the water and the air … they all suffer the predations of human greed and willful power, the smoke and fire of war, that burns the eye, and clouds the soul.

We pray for Iran, and the winds of freedom … all around the world, O God, women are crying out for justice … “Hail Mary, full of grace” we can say, to give thanks for the voices of women. 

We pray for our nation, O God - help us sort out the gold from the dross, the lies from the truth … that which is of death, and that which is of life.

We pray for colleges and universities … may they remain places of safety, for mind and body … where science is honored, truth pursued, books read, liberal arts celebrated … as students discover the deeps of life, and learn the basic skills of communication and thought - gifts for the common good - these students are the tomorrow of our nation, O God, and we pray for them, one and for all.

We pray for Pastor Harlan Redmond and Interwoven … we pray for our San Gabriel Presbytery, for Wendy Tajima and Ally Lee … we pray for our churches and pastors, elders and deacons, boards of trustees, administrators and musicians …  

For loved ones, we pray - parents, children, grammas and grampas, all who have loved us, those whom we love … keep watch over them … keep them safe and sound, in mind, body, heart, and soul. Grant to them, we pray, fullness of days, life well-lived.  

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. 

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

Eternal God, you have given us the light of Christ, that we might find our way through a

difficult and troubling world … you have given us the Ancient Text, the traditions of faith … you have given us women and men of great conscience and depth of soul … you have given us instincts to recognize the truth when it comes our way … you have given us the church, a witness to the light of Christ … you have given us so very much, O God, that we might fulfill the hope of Christ, for us to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

Help us, we pray, to keep a steady pace … when we’re tired, O LORD, give us rest and peace of mind … give us keen eyes to see the truth in the midst of all the noise … the courage to call a lie a lie … the faith to believe in Christ all the more … to love deeply and profoundly, to be of a good mind, and a generous heart.

We are mindful this day of our world … like it or not, dear God, we’re all connected now, in ways that our forebears couldn’t have imagined … save us, O God, from nostalgia - keep us looking ahead … with a firm hand on the plow, following Christ where’er he would lead … even to the ends of the earth.

O LORD our God, we pray for the people of Ukraine and Russia - and especially the children … and for the earth, O LORD, the soil and the water … and all of its creatures, great and small. Help our world-leaders find ways to a just peace, and a hopeful future.

We pray for the victims of the recent hurricane … all who’ve suffered loss and dislocation … we pray for the mechanisms of government, O God, that our resources will be well-used to ease the pain and rebuild what has been lost.

We pray for our families, and our friends … we pray for their wellbeing … grant to them, and to all of us, our daily bread, deliverance from evil, and forgiveness of sins.

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. 

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

Eternal God, you have given us the light of Christ, that we might find our way through a difficult and troubling world … that we might: face the day with courage … bear patiently the trials of life … serve Christ as best we can, trusting that our efforts are important to you … that you are pleased when we try to follow Christ … pleased, when we pray and seek the truth … pleased, when we look upon our world with kindly eyes and generous hearts … pleased, when we reach for the highest of human dreams, and stand with our better angels …

We pray, O God, for those who have lost so much in the recent hurricane … we give thanks for the resources of our nation - the Coast Guard, FEMA, government agencies, and rescue workers wading through the waters … help us, O God, to join hands and hearts in the recovery effort, to be one nation in mercy and charity.

We pray for those near and dear to us, our families, our friends … we pray, as well, for the whole world … even as people of good conscience and faith are in prayer with us … because your Holy Spirit moves across the face of the earth, touching every heart with love and hope and peace … for such is your glory, O God .. such is your goodness … such is your covenantal presence in the whole of creation … at work in all things for good.

Day-by-day, O LORD, create within us hearts of gratitude … to give thanks for the good things of life, remind us to pause now and then and count our blessings … to walk on the sunny side of the street … and when we’re in the valley of shadows, O God, speak tenderly to our soul … when life lays heavy upon us, when fears take hold and courage wavers, hold our hands, and comfort us with your Holy Spirit.

Remind us, O God, there is nothing in life or in death that can separate us from your great love in Christ Jesus our LORD. Here and now, then and there, we belong to you.

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.