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

 Prayers of Church & Community, September 15, 2024

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Holy God, Eternal Light …

Forgive our erroring ways … guide us, we pray, to the better days … of faith, hope, and love … grace, mercy, and peace.

Remind us, dear God, of that which counts … give us the eyes of Christ to see clearly what is true and good, right and decent, and the courage to reject what is false, hurtful, and wrong.

We pray, O God, for the People of Haiti, their daily struggles and deep sorrows … we pray for the Haitians in our nation, and the lies now being told about them … we pray for their children who bear the brunt of such things … we pray for the schools now closed because of vile threats by misguided people … people seduced by hatred and bigotry, O God … people so small in spirit, they cannot rise above themselves … crippled by fear, they cannot love … broken in soul, they cannot forgive, nor seek forgiveness … uncertain of themselves, they can only damn others … may the grace of your love, dear God, may the stars above and the sunshine of the day, help them find their way, their way to a better life, something bright and good, to build up and create anew, to affirm and to celebrate, to stand tall and not fall, to be good and not rude, to see beyond the lies to the truth that sets us all free.

We pray for churches across the land … we pray for Westminster … we pray your blessing upon our quest for the next minister … we thank you for what has been, we thank you for what is, and we thank you for what shall be … because your hand is upon us, your grace is within us, your love all around us.

We pray for our loved ones … we pray for their physical needs and their spiritual wellbeing … we pray for the lost and the lonely, the fearful and the forgotten … we pray for those in deep sorrow, and those facing the end of their days … 

May the bright light of Christ shine upon them all … may the grace of your kindly hand guide them along the highways and byways of life and death, the beginnings and endings of all things.

Holy God, Eternal Light, we begin our days in your love, and we end our journey in your love … your love brings us forth, your love walks beside us, and in the end, O God, your love takes us by the hand into the eternal realms of glory.

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. 

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

 Prayers of Church & Community, September 8, 2024

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Holy God, Eternal Light,

Creator of the heavens and the earth.

Help us, we pray, with your Holy Spirit, to align our hearts with the heart of Christ, our minds to see the world he saves, our feet to walk in his pathways, our hands ready to bless the children of the world.

We are grieved, O God, by the school shootings in Georgia & Maryland … 

LORD God Almighty, we pray for mercy … and we pray for courage … 

The courage to create good laws on the sale of guns and ammunition … health care programs to assist families with troubled children … leaders who will help us face the causes of social violence, who will speak the truth to all of us … 

In your mercy, dear God, do not forgive us … but trouble us all the more, stir the waters of conscience, reveal to us our sins of greed and power, that the death of children is not a fact of life, but a failure of our soul … trouble us, we pray, until we see our responsibility in all of this.

Holy God, in this place of rest and peace, we find find our true selves - daughters and sons of the Most High God, servants of Christ … 

Thank you, dear God, for who we are, for the gifts of life you’ve so generously given … 

Holy God, Eternal Light, remind us that our work here and now is connected to eternity … every earthly good deed adds to the glory and beauty of heaven … our words, our prayers added to the songs of angels and to the high praise of the saints.

Bless Westminster, we pray … bless our loved ones … bless us one and all, that we might leave here revived and restored, ready to face the week ahead, what e’re may come … 

For you, O God, are at our side, your Spirit lives within us … your faithfulness endures to all generations … your steadfast love is our comfort …you are the Good Shepherd, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort us.

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. 

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

 Prayers of Church & Community, September 1, 2024

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Holy God, Eternal Light … forever present … always kind … 

A present help in the daily grind … you encourage us all along the way … 

In the best moments of life, O God, you strengthen us for the journey … in the best of times, and the worst of times.

When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death … you walk quietly beside us … 

you stop and wait with us, when we cannot walk one step further, 

you sit with us when we cannot rise … 

you lay down with us when we are laid low … 

you hold us when we tremble … 

you do not let us go, dear God … 

even when we want to run away from you, and go and hide somewhere … 

Blessed Redeemer, creator of the heavens and earth … we give thanks for the creative energies you give to our world …

Bless our schools, O God, and all the children … bless their teachers, O LORD, and the administrators, the counselors, lunchroom workers, maintenance and cleaning staff … it takes a village, O God, to raise a child.

We’re mindful, O God, of Gus Walz … and millions of children and young adults who share his world. Protect them, we pray.

Thank you, Dear God, for those who gave us Labor Day … help our nation, O LORD, to not only enjoy its wealth, but to share its wealth … to be as eager in our generosity, as we are in our gain.

Bless our nation in this campaign season … bless Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, bless Donald Trump and J.D. Vance … bless all who seek office … instill within all of us, and each of us, a fresh desire to be the more perfect union … with liberty and justice for all.

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.