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

 Prayers of Church & Community, Dec. 15, 2024

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Teach us how to pray, O LORD … we want very much to do it well … 

Give us the courage to pray … to bow our hearts before your glory … to open wide our minds to your will … 

Give us eyes to see those moments in our daily journey when prayer is needed … give us pause in the midst of our busy lives, to breath the words of thanksgiving … give us ears to hear the songs of life … songs of sorrow and songs of joy … make us sensitive to the ebb and flow of your Holy Spirit, we pray … 

We can do so much on our own, O LORD, but only so much - we need your grace to complete the day … to finish what we begin, repair what we break, heal our wounds, cleanse our souls, restore what is lost, refresh our resolve.

Today, O God, we celebrate Mary … you gave yourself unto her, and through her, you were born into this world … she walked with you when you took your first steps, she fed you in the middle of the night, she bathed you with tender care … she heard your first words … she and Joseph took you to Jerusalem, and there to see the Temple, your Father’s house … your beloved mother wasn’t always sure what you were up to … but she stayed the course, and in the end, she stood by your cross and watched you die … she was at the tomb on the day of your Resurrection … and in glory, she shines with you and all the Saints.

Blessed is her name, O God … and blessed is her courage, and her faith … by her example, teach us how to say “Yes!” to the great things of life … teach us that it’s ok to be afraid, to be uncertain … helps us to see the angels who visit us, the moments of opportunity for life and for love … and within the womb of our own soul, dear God, come and make a home with us … and help us, then, to birth your love into the world.

This day, O God, as Mary prayed for her world, so we pray for our time and place … mindful of Syria, Israel & Palestine, the Koreas, Ukraine and Russia, the nations of NATO, and our neighbors to the north and south … may the vulnerable be respected … may the powerful be mature … may goodness and peace be the highest priorities … may the church be faithful to 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.

12.17.23 Prayers of Church & Community - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena

 This prayer was triggered by the violent rise of hate crimes ... such a vast sadness has taken hold of the world ... in contrast to Mary's Sunday, the Second Sunday of Advent, her candle, Joy!

Holy God, LORD of light and love,

We lament the rise of hate crimes … all around us, hot-tempered voices, misplaced anger … a complete failure of the human spirit.

We pray for those who have given their souls to hatred, lost in a briar patch of twisted thoughts, wandering in a wilderness of pain and violence. LORD, free them from their sins, we pray, and lead, them to green pastures and fresh water, to find and enjoy their true personhood.

We pray for the victims of their hate:

our Jewish sisters and brothers … their safety, their synagogues … their hopes and dreams …

our Muslim sisters and brothers … their well-being, their mosques … their prayers and aspirations …

all people of color, who are regularly met with suspicion in stores and malls across the land …

the Asian-American community, often told, “go back to where you came from.”

the Latino community, often told to “speak English.” 

we pray for the children, dear God, children who want to play and laugh like children anywhere … eyes wide with fear, little hearts pounding, tears flowing.

With sorrow all around us, dear God, we set our sights upon Mary, the Mother of our LORD and Savior … her courage, her faith, her vision … her decision to welcome Christ into her womb, to bear the Savior of the World, to give to the world what the world so desperately needs, what the world too often destroys and buries, what the world longs for, even as it turns away.

Help us do as Mary does - to welcome Christ into the womb of our heart, our soul, our being … to welcome Christ, that Christ might be born anew through each one of us … to give ourselves to faith, hope, and love, that we might give Christ to the world.

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. 

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

Eternal God, grant to us this day some relief from the stress of our times, some distance from the sorrows and challenges of the present … that we might heal in soul and spirit, regain our strength and resolve … to face the demands of life, to bear the burdens of sin and sorrow, to be of help to others, to embody the love of Christ in all that we are.

We give thanks for the blessings of life … things that cheer us, and make us laugh … things to lighten our spirits and refresh our souls … there is much in this world, O LORD, to heal the wounds and lift up the weary … give us, we pray, the eyes to see the glories of your world … the bright hues of a morning sky, the blaze of color in a field of poppies … and all around us, the joyous blooms of trees and bushes … a world of color and exuberance, delight and wonder, birth and rebirth.

We pray this day for our loved ones - family and friends … those with whom we work, those who sit beside us in school … loved ones far away … and for each of them, O God, we lift our prayers, for their wellbeing, in body and soul … to have great purpose and high ambition … to set their hands to the plow, and never look back, to face the days that lie ahead, with joy and hope, confidence and courage.

We pray, O God, for our San Gabriel Presbytery, for the Rev. Wendy Tajima, and all of our churches and ministers, our elders and deacons … musicians and staff … and the ever-faithful members who give and serve, love and help, sing and dance, to your glory, O God, and strive for the welfare of the world.

Holy God, light eternal, you are the father, the mother, of us all … you instruct us with the light of stars, you counsel us in the rush of wind, you speak to us in the eyes of a child … you shelter us in time of storm, you guide us with with your hand, you see us through the trials and temptations of life … as our father eternal, as our mother forever, Happy Mother’s Day … may your children make you proud.

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.