Please feel free to join us in the prayers prayed in worship Sunday, August 21, 2022:
Loving, creating God,
In the beginning, when all was chaos,
you spoke the world into being,
and gave shape to our days.
You said, let there be light, and there was light –
the sun, moon, and stars,
and then earth, sky, and sea,
plants and trees,
the fish that swim, the birds that fly,
all creatures that roam the earth,
and us – you created us in love,
to live in loving relationship
with all creation.
And on the seventh day, you rested,
and enjoyed all you had made.
When we were wandering in the desert,
you reminded us of that seventh day,
reminded us that we are free,
and invited us to live that truth
for all people, for all creation.
For your creating, abiding, sustaining love,
we give you thanks and praise.
We come to you this day
in a world in need of healing.
We pray healing for the Earth and all creation,
crying out in climate emergency.
Stop us in our destructive, consuming ways,
teach us new and better, sustainable ways
to live together in healing community
with all creation.
We pray healing for the systems of oppression we inhabit.
Healing for those who are harmed,
the dismantling of those structures,
particularly entrenched American racism,
and for the reform and rebuilding of a just and liberating world.
We pray for all those who are ailing, in body or spirit,
for your healing touch.
For those who are held down, freedom.
For those who hunger, food enough and more.
For those who are unhoused, shelter.
For those who are lonely, companionship and a friend.
For those who grieve, comfort.
Help us to build your goodness into the pattern of our days,
to weave your healing into the fabric of our lives,
that we might embody and live out
your New Creation,
for the blessing and freedom of the world you love.
Deeply connected with all creation,
we join our voices with the voices of everyone in every time and place
who has ever called on you,
praying the prayer that Jesus taught, saying:
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: Damien Murkett, used with permission via Unsplash