Monday, May 8, 2023

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

God of the ages, God of all our moments … from the rising of the sun to the close of the day … throughout the night, and to the first breath of morning … 

O LORD our God, we pray for our nation … may your Holy Spirit continue to raise up voices of reason and hope …  


We pray for the nations of the world … for the Palestinians and the State of Israel … for Sudan and its refugees … we pray for China and Taiwan, the Koreas … and Ukraine. 


We pray for great Britain, King George and Queen Camilla … their families and friends … may they embody the best of such grand traditions; may your Holy Spirit bless the Church of England … and all the Houses of Faith, wherein the best of humanity is enshrined.


We pray today for our sisters and brother at All Saints … preserve them, we pray … empower their witness for a just and inclusive world. 


We pray, too, for those who have welcomed fear and given themselves to hate. We pray for those who lack the emotional and spiritual resources to counter such things … we pray for those who use such things to further their own religious and political ambitions.


In such times, O God, give to us the courage to remain steadfast in our faith, our commitments, our vision of a world wherein all can find a seat at the Table of your Grace. A world of open doors, open minds, and open hands.


Bless, we pray, our loved ones … those in distress of mind and body, grant healing, guidance, and courage. Those in sorrow, grant comfort; those who are snared in addictions, grant release and recovery. 


We pray for the Writers … for all who produce the entertainment so vital to life … who tell the stories that make us laugh, and make us cry … stories to make us better, O God, stories to open up worlds of understanding, laughter and hope … may the issues be justly resolved … may calm hearts and good minds bring a new day.


For the joys of life, we give your our gratitude - children and grandchildren, their laugher and their love … dogs and cats who grace our lives with companionship … doctors and nurses who care for us … teachers who open the world to us … engineers and scientists who take us to the moon and beyond … 


All of this, and more, 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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