Prayers of Church & Community, Jan. 14, 2024
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Holy God, forever our home and our hope …
in your grace, we find our way,
in your mercy, we find the courage to reach for the fulness of our humanity …
in your forgiveness, we face tomorrow,
in your love, we live today.
Holy God, we give thanks for those whom you have called to the most special of ministries … we give thanks for the Prophets of old, for Samuel and his family, for Eli the priest, and all who were faithful to your Holy Covenant …
We give thanks this day for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, whom you called to bear the toughest of burdens, to speak truth to power, and to live the power of love … we give thanks for his words, his wisdom, his courage, his tears …
Holy God, your Spirit hovers over the welling waters of time … your Spirit works in all things for good …
so we pray, dear God, that we might know enough of Christ to know where and how to live our days,
to walk in his truth,
to live his love,
to practice his kindness and courage -
to be people of compassion and good character …
We pray not, O God, for some kind of moral perfection, but rather that in, humility and hope, sinful as we are, we would simply do our best, day-by-day, growing all the more into the likeness and goodness of Christ … until the days of our lives draw to their appointed end, as they must, and we are gathered into the great fellowship of the Church Triumphant, the Church Eternal.
Bless Westminster, O God … bless the Search Committee as it seeks our next installed minister … bless our neighborhood, we pray … may the Tower give hope to all, and may you lead into our fellowship of faith those who will carry on the legacy of this church, for the welfare of our neighborhood.
We pray for our loved ones … we pray for those in ill-health and pain … we pray for the grieving, burden by loss and loneliness … we pray for the emotionally confused, the physically challenged … those bored with life, and those for whom life is gloriously successful … those with too little, and those with too much … O LORD, our God, help us each and all to discover the center of life - your love, your peace, and your Christ.
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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