Prayers of Church & Community, date
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Holy God, we gather here with gratitude for the good that is ours … the material good of a free land … the spiritual good of Christ … the goodness of love woven into the fabric of our lives … from the day we were born, so many have blessed us - people of kindness and care … teachers to teach, ministers to preach … family and friends … social networks … reaching all the way back to the dawn of creation, and stretching ahead to the consummation of time.
We pray for the nation of Libya … the loss of life there is staggering … we pray for the nation of Morocco, and the hard work of rebuilding … we pray for Ukraine and Russia, and for all the agents and agencies of peace … we pray for our Central American neighbors … we pray for Mexico and Canada … Taiwan and China, the Koreas …
Help us, we pray, to be global citizens, to pay attention to the world, to the suffering wrought by human failure and the forces of earth, wind, fire and water.
Your Christ, O God, did not run from the heart of the matter, but walked toward it, with courage and strength, trepidation and dread … he still calls us, dear God, and we hear his voice, to follow where’re he lead, even to the ends of the earth.
Help us, we pray, to live into Christ all the more …
We continue to pray for the writers and actors on strike … we pray for the UAW and America’s autoworkers … we pray for the studios, for the CEOs and boards of directors … help us, dear God, to find the middle ground, the reasonable center, where justice lives.
We pray for our families, dear God, those close to us, our flesh and blood, our kith and kin, who shelter beneath our roof and share in our pantry … in their hurt, O God, we hurt, too … when they laugh, our spirits are lifted … in their success, we’re proud; when they struggle, we weep … O LORD, our God, bless them, we pray, with the necessities of life, for body and for soul, and save us all from undue worry and needless anxiety.
We pray for Westminster, where the Tower still stands … we pray for our Search Committee, our Session, our Trustees … may grace, mercy, and peace, dear God, be the wind in their sails, the song of their hearts, the hope of their dreams, as they lead this church to a new day.
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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