Prayers of Church & Community, January 19, 2025
Westminster Presbyterian Church
In the smoke of our sorrows …
In the winds of our lament …
In the ashes of our tears …
O LORD, our God, creator of the heavens and the earth, we cry out for your mercies and your guidance … for your love and your strength … for the comfort and consolation of your Holy Spirit, for the gentle touch of Christ … to take our hand and lead the way … the way forward, the way through it all …
With heavy hearts, we pray for those who’ve lost their homes … and those with damaged homes … communities lost to us forever … the stores and the shops, the gatherings places of commerce and conversation … schools and churches and a billion memories …
We are, dear God, creatures of this earth … we are material through and through, and to the material things of life we belong, and in their loss, our lives are depleted … from tooth brushes and toothpicks … to cars and clothes, to pots and pans … and screwdrivers and scotch tape …
We pray for those coming to our aid … government agencies and private organizations, and personal generosity from all around the nation, the world …
Bless our nation, we pray … as we transition to a new administration … may the better angels of peace and goodness sound the trumpets of hope … may wisdom and mercy prevail.
For the Middle East, O God, we pray … may the peacemakers be heard, may arms be laid down, may justice be done …
We pray for our troubled world … we pray that humanity will find its way … we pray for all houses of worship … for imams and priests, for pastors and rabbis … for all lift their voices in song, who fold their hands in prayer …
Holy God, Eternal Light, teach us of Christ … help us, we pray, to bow the knee in humble prayer and faithful love … guide our footsteps along the difficult pathways of life … when we’re weak, O God, you are our strength … when we’re sad, O God, your love remains our joy.
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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