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

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Eternal God:

We give thanks for this Pentecost day … for your love at work in all things … in all things bright and beautiful, in all things sad and broken … your everlasting work, your Holy Spirit work - to create and recreate the world.

It’s Memorial Day, O LORD, for our nation … we remember the dead and the maimed, the victims of human folly, that humankind remains suspicious and given to armed conflict … 

We confess our penchant for war, our wars and rumors of war, our failures to live with one another … Cain killed his brother, and we’re still doing it, O LORD … violence on our streets and in our schools, wholesale death in Ukraine and Sudan and Palestine … and other places on the face of your beautiful earth, churned and burned in our madness, our fear, our failure to live well.

Yet on this Memorial Day, we breath a sigh of thanksgiving for the soldiers who marched out to defend their land against the fascists and dictators of the world. Our policies, O God, haven’t always been the best, but our Constitution, dear God, our Statue of Liberty, our hopes and our dreams, have the ring of truth about them and the bright light of decency. Help us, we pray, to live up to our best intentions, our highest ambitions, our finest words of life and justice for all.

O God, help people of faith to be faithful to the best and to the highest found in every faith and philosophy worth their salt … Muslims and Jews, Sikhs and Christians, Buddhists and Hindus … philosophers and humanists, artists and writers, the story tellers and the dreamers, the scientists who search the heavens, and probe the human body; the engineers who build the machines of the future … versions and variants of the human dream, reflections of your dream, dear God … your dream, for a world safe and sound, healthy and whole - for all your creatures, great and small.

Bless our friends, O God … I pray today for Ann Marie and Stan - for the love of Christ in their lives; the peace of the Holy Spirit.

We pray for one another here in our pews, and those by their computers and TVs … to one, and to all, dear God, grant the assurance of your Holy Spirit, the joy and goodness of Pentecost.

Help us all, dear God, to make the faithful journey … to set our sights upon the glory of Christ … heed his call to follow him where e’re he lead … to know how fully we’ve been accepted; how powerfully we are love … and to set aside of some of ourselves, that we might have more of 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. 

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

Eternal God, in these moments of worship and wonder, help us set aside our concerns and ambitions, to focus on Christ and the faith of the church; to recalibrate our souls and learn anew of your kingdom; to ponder the eternal questions that lift the human journey - from the pursuit of self, to the quest for your justice and peace … and in our faithfulness, O LORD, in our determination to serve Christ, unfold for us, we pray, the pathways of our life, that we might truly know ourselves, and discover the riches of your kingdom, treasures that neither moth nor rust consume, nor thief break in and steal.

We pray for our world, especially those lands torn by war … we pray for the earth and the animals, the water and the air … they all suffer the predations of human greed and willful power, the smoke and fire of war, that burns the eye, and clouds the soul.

We pray for Iran, and the winds of freedom … all around the world, O God, women are crying out for justice … “Hail Mary, full of grace” we can say, to give thanks for the voices of women. 

We pray for our nation, O God - help us sort out the gold from the dross, the lies from the truth … that which is of death, and that which is of life.

We pray for colleges and universities … may they remain places of safety, for mind and body … where science is honored, truth pursued, books read, liberal arts celebrated … as students discover the deeps of life, and learn the basic skills of communication and thought - gifts for the common good - these students are the tomorrow of our nation, O God, and we pray for them, one and for all.

We pray for Pastor Harlan Redmond and Interwoven … we pray for our San Gabriel Presbytery, for Wendy Tajima and Ally Lee … we pray for our churches and pastors, elders and deacons, boards of trustees, administrators and musicians …  

For loved ones, we pray - parents, children, grammas and grampas, all who have loved us, those whom we love … keep watch over them … keep them safe and sound, in mind, body, heart, and soul. Grant to them, we pray, fullness of days, life well-lived.  

All of this, 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. 

7.10.22 Prayer of Church & Community, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 For this world, O God … we give our thanks … the world you’ve created … a world in

motion, fast and slow, teeming with life … taking shape in the blink of an eye, or a snail’s march across a few million years … a world leaving and arriving, evolving in shape and form … full of color, noise, energy, and power … O LORD our God, great is your name, and greatly to be praised … for you are the LORD of color and sound, the LORD of the snail and the LORD of the gull … the LORD of the seven seas and the highest of mountains … the LORD of every creature, great and small … the LORD of all souls, the LORD of heaven and earth, the LORD of times past, the ever-present moment, and a future striving to be born.

O LORD our God, give us, we pray, a deep and abiding sense of your glory, a reverence for life … to see your hand in the shapes and shades of the land, the miracles of love and birth, the cycles of time … the first breath taken and the last breath drawn … dust to dust, earth to earth, ashes to ashes … O LORD our God … it all belongs to you … a universe billions of lightyears in expanse and expanding … every moment, every heartbeat, every kiss, and every song. 

Help us we pray to live as well as we can … with love and patience, kindness and mercy, wisdom and expectation, goodness and decency … to feel the winds of the afternoon and the softness of a child’s hand.

Eternal God, help us, to find solutions to humanity’s distress … to find leaders who will speak the truth and point the way to a generous world of welcome.

Watch over each us, we pray, in the remains of the day; guide and guard our loved ones; grant them fullness of life, and an abundance of love.

We thank you for our church, for the bread and drink of the LORD’s Table … for all that has been, all that is, and all that shall be … for you are at work, O God, in all things, for good … with a love that never dies.

Help us, we pray, to be utterly faithful to Christ … in our toil and in our rest, in our families and in our communities … in the words we speak, and the dreams we have.

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. 

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

 

With grateful hearts, O God, we gather together … here in this place of hope and peace, and across the digital world - bound together in the great fellowship of Christ.

Here and everywhere, O God, your presence beckons and confirms, invites and ordains, calls and sends … your living, vital, presence, O God, gives life to the world … and with joy, dear God, we greet you in this day of national celebration, praying for our nation’s wellbeing, that more of what we could be, will become all the more, and what we are, more often than we can admit, will become less.

Holy God, we’re mindful of the dead in San Antonio - mothers and fathers, daughters and sons - people seeking a better life, trying their best … dead in the heat of a Texas summer.

The dead are safe in your everlasting arms, O God, but may their memory haunt us, may their plight compel us, may their dreams lead us, to wiser policies and a richer kindness. The very word, immigrant, dear God, has been vilified and used to inflame and infuriate. Help us, we pray, to move beyond such childish behavior, to achieve a more human, and more humane, way of seeing life around us. Not in fear, but in faith, O God … not with anger, but with understanding … not with smallness of mind, but with stillness of heart - to love and to welcome … to share what we have, knowing full well, dear God, that in the sharing of life, life, and more life, accrues.

Holy God, we celebrate our nation’s story today - a story of goodness and hope, AND a story of greed and violence … we tell both stories, O God - because your truth demands of us the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We will not shy away from the details, holy God, nor shirk our duties to build the better day.

Give us, we pray, leaders strong in character and conviction, generous of mind and heart, morally sound and spiritually grounded, faithful to the oath of office, knowing the difference between right and wrong. 

Bless our nation with your love … guide each of us, we pray, to be loyal to Christ and faithful to our nation.

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. 

May 15, 2022, Prayers of Church & Community, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena

With gladness of heart, O God, we gather together in this sacred place, a place hallowed by the praise and prayers of the saints and sinners who have walked in pathways of faith long

before we were here.

And we would do no less than they have done, O God … in their footsteps, we follow the Christ, sing your praise and rejoice in your provisioning love, a love that finds a way through the wilderness, a way to the Promised Land, a way of hope, peace, consolation and comfort, challenge and guidance. Your faithfulness to your church, to your people, is the bedrock of our faithful, our trust, our hope.

We pray today for the families and friends of those killed and injured in Buffalo … comfort them in their misery, in their loss and grief … help our nation, O God, to face the deeps of hatred in our nation’s story, a hatred embraced in the hearts of many, exploited by scheming politicians and careless preachers - bless, O LORD, the peace-makers, the truth-tellers … expand, we pray, the realms of knowledge and understanding … give to our leaders wisdom and vision, and the courage, O God, to act wisely, and purposefully, in our quest for better days.

We pray for our loved ones, O God … their health and wellbeing … watch over them, we pray … guide their footsteps and guard their souls.

We pray today for the Presbyterian Church throughout the land … and across the world … women and men of good conscience, girls and boys with joy in their hearts and hope for the future.

All of this, 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. 

May 8, 2022 "Prayer of Church & Community" Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena

Eternal Father, always our Mother - you created us in your image, we all share in the gifts and

energy of your divine being, your infinite diversity - our diversity - rich with color and gender, culture and race - O God, we give thanks!

We pray this day for our nation - for those who wear the mantle of leadership - our President and Vice President, members of Congress, the Supreme Court … all who hold office and serve the public trust, all across the land, school boards and city councils, governors and sheriffs - may your Holy Spirit, O God, the Spirit of Truth, grant wisdom of judgment, courage of heart, a vibrant patriotism, a new devotion to our founding documents and the quest for our better angels.

We pray for the nations of the world, O God - our hearts are distressed by the present and mounting dangers of war … we pray that good sense will prevail, peace be won … ancient hatreds be softened by the hopes of a brighter future. 

We pray for our families and friends … some who suffer in mind and body, some who grieve the death of loved ones, who search for their purpose, lost in fear and sadness. We pray, too, for those in the heights of life, to whom success and privilege have come - of whom much is required, because much has been given. 

We pray for the lost and for the found, the blind and the sighted, the poor and the rich, those with power and those without … we pray for our church here on Lake Avenue, for people of faith around the world -  help us all, we pray, to build bridges of understanding, to be generous in mind and deed, to welcome all, to celebrate the diversity of your creation. Giving thanks constantly, striving to love with all that we are, and all that we hope to be.

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.