Prayers of Church & Community, Nov. 26, 2023
Westminster Presbyterian Church
We lift our hearts to you, O God, in grateful song and thoughtful prayer …
You are the creator of the heavens and the earth!
The sun, moon and the stars are your creatures,
incredible and vast; you know them by name,
and they know you …
And you know our name, as well … you know us through and through, from having watched us take shape in our mother’s womb …
You are the quiet presence of faith, hope, and love.
You are the forceful presence of justice, truth, and equality.
You are the impulse of goodness.
You are the light of the world.
We pray today for transit workers … who drive a bus on a crowded street, who drive the subway beneath our feet … who work the taxis, Lyft and Uber … who drive us to and fro.
We pray today for those in need of healing … healing for weary bodies and tired souls … we pray for the newly born, and we pray for those on the threshold of death.
Holy God, I pray for the preservation of our Democracy … I pray for its defenders … those who write the books and point the way, those who craft the legislation and defend the rule of law … I pray for our teachers and our school boards, for librarians and and archivists - those who stand watch on the ramparts of freedom, who guard the literature of great writers and poets.
I pray, O God, in gratitude and sorrow, with those upon whose land this church stands … those who were here in ages past … who lost their lands in the tragedies of time, when steel and gunpowder took what they wanted … I pray, O God, that I will always hear their quiet voice calling to me … calling to all of us, O God - the earth crying out with the blood of our sisters and brothers.
We pray for Palestine … we pray that the progress made in peace between the State of Israel and Hamas will hold and grow … and pave the way for a greater peace in that troubled land of hope and sorrow …
Help our sisters and brothers around the world to work for peace, even as we pray for it. Help the leaders of the world see the folly of their ways … help us all, we pray, to seek peace with as much effort as we wage war.
Holy God, Light Divine, thank you for the gift of life … help us, we pray, to use it well, to bring peace to our world, and love to one another.
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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