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.