Prayers of Church & Community, March 3, 2024
Westminster Presbyterian Church
O God, your hand is upon us … your angels surround us … your love leads us on …
We are yours from before the foundation of the earth … it was your breath that gave us life, it’s your hand that leads throughout our days … and in the end, O God, you take us by the hand, and walk with us through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, a valley we all must travel, to the Land beyond … to the city of eternal light, where there are no more tears, and no more pain.
O God our Creator … Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Mother, Daughter and Eternal Love … teach us how to pray … touch our hearts with your goodness, that we might turn to you throughout the day, and well into the night … and in the morning of the next day, to greet thee … for all the days of our lives.
Teach us, we pray, how to pray … to open our hearts to your glory, and follow in the footsteps of Christ … to care deeply and profoundly for the world in which we live … to be more than consumers of your kindness … to never take for granted the blessings of your kindly favor … to embody in our words and being the very presence of Christ.
Holy God, we pray for loved ones and friends …
We pray for those in grief …
We pray for the homeless of our land,
refugees around the world, millions in distress …
We pray for scientists and engineers … for software developers … those creating the powerful tools of AI …
We pray for the women and men who get up every morning and shoulder the burdens of the day … make lunches for the kids … off to work they go: sit by a desk, grip a hammer, lift a shovel, go to meetings, drive a truck, and come home tired … … pay the bills … worry about their health … read less than they want to, dream of vacations in faraway places, try to count their blessings, and love as best they can. O Lord, bless them one and all.
We pray for our nation and its leaders … the President and Vice President, members of Congress and the judiciary … preserve our Democracy, O LORD … we have failed in many ways, but the dream is worthy of our lives: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Remind us, O God, that we have a role to play … we are the light of the world, and the salt of the earth … by your Holy Spirit, you equip us to be the disciples of Christ in our time and place.
Remind us, dear God, how important this is … what we must do to protect the children, care for the earth, lift up the fallen, help those in need, speak out against the lies and superstitions of the day, and speak up for the truth that sets us all free - that love, and love alone, is the way ahead.
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.
