Eternal God, to whom all things belong, from whom all love proceeds, we give thanks that you are the God of love woven into the fabric of time - in the best of it, and in the worst of it … in our joys, and in our sorrows … in the suffering of millions even now, displaced by war and climate change … you’re heart, too, is broken, by the sins and sorrows of humankind.
It’s almost too much for us to comprehend, but we pay attention, dear God, because attentiveness is our task - to be fully human, fully aware, eyes open, ears listening to the children of our world crying out to us for justice and peace …
Help us, we pray, to give priority to love and kindness, mercy and mindfulness … to be faithful to Christ, to be creative and playful, prayerful and thoughtful, to be the church alive and full of life and hope … in such times, O God, as these, changing times, tables overturned, the old ways disappearing, remind us that you are at work in all things for good … Christ is our companion … the Holy Spirit guides and directs our steps, reveals new pathways, new procedures and new practices … help us, we pray, to resist the temptation of Lot’s wife, the temptation to look backward, the temptation to give the past more honor than it deserves … to be those who look to the future, who look for you, O God, in the pathways before us, for you are always and forever the God of Tomorrow.
We pray now for loved ones… for family and friends … our children and grandchildren, our parents and grandparents … our brothers and sisters, neighbors and co-workers … all around us, O LORD … and for them we pray.
We pray for Ukraine and Russia, for Europe and NATO - we pray for the air and water, the earth and the animals … we pray for a just peace.
We pray for Taiwan and China … we pray for the nations of the Pacific Rim …
We pray for Westminster, O LORD … we pray for our elders and our members, for our friends around the world, who join with us via YouTube - we pray a blessing upon them all.
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.
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