Please feel free to join us this week in the prayers we prayed in worship, Sunday, August 30, 2020:
Loving God,
you have created all that is,
and invited us into the work of creating with you,
you love us in Jesus Christ,
and empower us through your abiding Spirit –
we give you thanks and praise.
We thank you for this world,
and we feel and participate in its pain.
God help us.
We pray for those reeling from natural disasters –
from hurricanes, and wildfires, and pandemic.
We pray for those who have suffered harm and loss,
for healing and wholeness and safety.
We pray for first responders – for firefighters,
and for medical professionals,
gird them with strength for the work they do
for the common good –
the work they do sacrificially
to protect and honor human life.
We pray for an end to pandemic.
We pray for an end to the systemic racism
that plagues this country,
and particularly for an end
to state-sanctioned police violence.
We pray for Jacob Blake and his family, for his healing,
and for the families of Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd,
and for every Black Life and every community
traumatized yet again every time a Black Life is taken or harmed
by the forces of racism and white supremacy.
Help us to stop. Help us to stop this violence –
to see our part in it – and to stop.
Listening to prophets of Scripture and of today,
we ask that you show us how to
dismantle unjust systems that need to come down,
and to build systems that honor the humanity and dignity of each person.
We pray for protestors who call for justice,
and we pray that you will remove from power
leaders who mock them and who ignore their cries
and who perpetuate and aggravate the violence of racism.
As our eyes continue to open,
may we know white supremacy when we see it.
Continue to convict us
until we do the work that is ours to do to make this stop.
We pray for the world in climate emergency,
we pray for the communities of our nation and around the world,
and we pray for the life we live in our bodies.
We thank you for this embodied life,
and affirm that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
We pray for all who are sick,
for the healing of hurting bodies and broken spirits.
We claim the healing power of Jesus,
reaching out to grab the hem of your garment,
bringing those we love to you,
and lowering them through the roof,
into your healing presence and care.
Surround them and us,
with your healing, your comfort, and your love.
We pray for those living outside,
for shelter.
We pray for all the ways we are lonely,
for new ways of connection and community,
new ways to create with you of our bodies
one body.
In connection and communion, with you,
and with each other,
and with all who have called your name,
we join our voices with theirs,
as we pray 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.