Please feel free to join us in the prayers prayed in worship Sunday, December 18, 2022:
Gracious God,
you have created all that is in love.
You created day and night,
set the stars and moon and sun in place,
loved into being
the earth, the fish that swim, the birds that fly,
all creatures that roam the land and call this Earth home.
And, your creating continues to flow forth,
beyond anything that we can comprehend or imagine.
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 freedom,
for joy,
for some good news for those we know and love,
and for the whole world too.
We pray healing for this Earth that we have damaged to the point of collapse.
Teach us ways that mend and sustain your world,
and that empower us to live in right relationship
with all you have created.
We pray for an end to every system that oppresses,
for those systems to be pulled down from their seats of power,
and for those who have been held low to be lifted up.
We pray for an end, especially, to American systemic racism.
Help us see the ways we have been complicit, and stop.
Help us look to and follow those who have been harmed the most,
as together we find our way into your ways of peace.
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 these Advent nights, we stand together under starlit skies,
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: NASA, used with permission
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