Please feel free to join us in prayer this week with the prayers we prayed in worship, Sunday, December 20, 2020:
Loving God,
we come to you,
in a weary and beautiful.
We gather in this weary world
that is also a place of
quiet hope, and love,
and joy, and deep peace.
We come to you,
knowing that you come to us,
that you are never far away,
that you are near,
as near to us,
as the beating of our own heart.
Immanuel, God with us,
we give you thanks and praise.
We come to you,
bringing our burdens,
and the burdens of the world,
knowing that you listen,
and that you always desire good
for the whole world.
We give you thanks for the good news of a vaccine;
be with those who are working so hard to transport,
and administer this vaccine that we trust will save life.
As we wait in hope, we also hold all those
who continue to suffer in pandemic.
We pray for families who right now
ache as loved ones suffer with COVID;
we pray for all who are sick,
for healing from every kind of illness;
we pray for families who have lost loved ones;
we pray for those in the healing professions,
who are working so hard right now;
give them strength, thank you for their courage and compassion.
We pray for those who are struggling
with job loss and economic uncertainty.
In this holiday season, we pray for those
who feel even more isolated in this season of distancing.
We pray for all who are anxious in this pandemic surge.
Give us the inner strength
to live individually and collectively
in self-disciplined ways that help abate and end pandemic.
And we continue in prayer,
for healing, justice, and peace,
throughout the world.
We pray for an end to systemic racism;
give us eyes to see and hearts to do
the work that is ours to do.
We pray for a planet in climate emergency,
upon whose health all life depends.
Give us humility, discipline, and resolve
to reform and transform our ways of living,
that we might repair and sustain and love
this weary, beautiful earth.
And thank you.
Thank you for long nights that bring rest,
for companions along the way,
and for the light that even now
dawns on this weary world.
Joining our voices with the voices
of all who have ever called on your name,
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.