Please feel free to join us in the prayers prayed Sunday, August 14, 2022:
Loving, Abiding God,
you have created all that is in love –
stars, sun, and moon,
mountains and hills,
the waves that crash up on the shore,
plants, trees, birds, fish,
all creatures that move about the earth.
You have tilled the soil,
planted and nourished and sustained.
With all creation,
we are your “pleasant planting.”
For the beauty of this Earth and for life,
we give you thanks and praise.
For all the ways that we have damaged your good gift,
we seek your help.
We pray for a world in climate emergency,
hurtling toward climate collapse.
Help us see clearly the damage we have done,
and the realities we now face.
Give us space to lament,
and the loving sense to turn to each other and to you,
with a deeper sense of connection,
to live lovingly and boldly
lives in a world of uneven endings and rapid change.
Help us find our way to collective action
that may reduce and slow the harm we have created.
Help us live in ways that repair and sustain.
Help us dismantle systems that oppress –
systems of racism, and xenophobia, and misogyny,
so that we might rebuild with you,
systems that sustain, nourish, and bless.
We pray for those who are hurting –
for the poor, we pray for just economic systems
and a living, thriving share of all that is needed for life;
for the hungry, we pray for food enough and more;
for the unhoused, shelter;
for those who have been displaced, home;
for those who are ailing in body or spirit, healing;
for those who are lonely, companionship;
for those who are mourning and grieving, comfort and peace.
We praise you and give you thanks for your good Earth,
for the morning mist, and the song of birds,
for the laughter of children, and the creative wisdom of youth,
and the fervent hopes and dreams of elders,
for the sunshine that warms the day,
for rains that refresh our parched places,
for fields that yield grain for bread,
for vineyards that bring forth good grapes,
for the joy and meaning we find in community
with each other and all creation.
With all your creation, we turn to you for renewed hope,
trusting in your steadfast love that endures forever.
With all you have created in love, we join our voices with their voices,
as we pray the prayer that Jesus taught:
Our Father/Mother, 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 sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Photo credit: Michell Fouts, used with permission