Prayers for the Week of December 17, 2023

Please feel free to join us in the prayers prayed in worship, Sunday, December 17, 2023:

Gracious God,

you have created all that is in love.

and your creating continues to flow forth,

beyond anything that we can comprehend or imagine.

From the beginning, and now, and forever,

you will, desire, and long for the flourishing of all creation.

And in your goodness and love, we rejoice with you.

We give you thanks, and trust in your presence, steady and sure.

In amazement and wonder at your love for the whole world,

and at your loving presence, right here and now,

we bring you our hopes and our prayers –

for the well-being of families everywhere,

for health and healing,

for peace in a world of violence and war,

for the mending of a world we have damaged to the point of collapse,

for the dismantling of racism and every system that oppresses,

for freedom,

for joy,

for some good news for those we know and love,

and for the whole world too.

We pray for all those who are struggling with illness,

may your healing love surround and fill them with all they need,

and may you fill our hearts with your tender mercy

that we might love and care for each other.

We pray for those who grieve and mourn, comfort;

for those who are unhoused, shelter;

for those who hunger, food enough and more;

for every child, the opportunity to thrive

and to live a life of meaning and of joy.

As the shadows lengthen and the nights grow longer

in this season of Solstice and Advent,

we pray for the blessing of holy rest,

for a time to restore and heal weary bodies and aching spirits.

We pray for the tenderness that comes in the night,

when the busyness of the world grows still,

and we can feel the pulse of your love beating in our own hearts.

In this season of Advent, we journey together with you and toward you,

in community with all you have created,

joining our voices with the voices of all who have ever called your name,

praying together, 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: Charlotte Gross, used with permission via Unsplash