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

 Prayers of Church & Community, Nov. 19, 2020

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Holy God, LORD of light and love, we give thanks …

For the material comforts of life … a light switch on the wall, a faucet with a sink, a refrigerator and a microwave, a computer and a smart phone … and a roof over our heads.

Even as we give thanks, O LORD, remind us of those for whom life is mean and hard, for whom life is bitter and broken … in our comfort, O LORD, remind us of the needy, and help us to live and think and behave in ways that relieve their suffering, build a good nation, and lead us to the better day.

We give thanks for our families … for those who love us, and those whom we love … parents and grandparents … children and grandchildren … brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces.

We give thanks for our YouTube members - for Anne Marie and Stan, for Charles, for Mark … and for folks all around the world … we thank you, O God, for their devotion, their prayers, and bless our prayers for them.

We give thanks for our friends … childhood friends, and the friends of our maturity … with whom we share the goodness and the mercy of laughter and tears.

Most of all, O LORD, we give thanks for you … your creation, your love, your covenant … a pillar of fire at night to protect us … a pillar of cloud by day to lead us … manna in the morning, and water from a rock … Moses and the Ten Commandments … the Prophets of truth and justice, and Jesus of Nazareth, your Son, our LORD … born of Mary, your word incarnate … your goodness and your mercy enfleshed, sharing in the toil and turmoil of time … to save us from our sin, to set us free for life, to give us hope eternal.

We give your our thanks, O God: for those who give us the gospel … parents who pray for us, ministers and priests who give us your love, teachers who instruct us in the ways of faith … and for the Holy Spirit, dear God, at work in our souls, in our hearts and minds, leading us always to Christ.

And for the gospel, O God, the Good News of your unfailing love … that which is true forever … 

We are grateful … we give you our Thanks.

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.