Prayers for the Week of February 26, 2023

Artwork: “Who Will You Listen To?” by Rev. Lauren Wright Pittman |

A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org, used with permission

Please feel free to join us in the prayers prayed in worship, Sunday, February 26, 2023:

Holy God,

in love, you created all that is,

and you looked on your creation,

and you said,

“This is good.”

You created us,

created us to live in love and relationship and community

with each other and with you.

You created us for life

in conversation with you.

As we enter into this Season of Lent,

we come seeking,

seeking you,

seeking meaning,

seeking life,

and we come with our questions,

honest questions for a deeper faith:

· In a world full of hurt and harm, how can we help?

· In a world full of deep need, what is the work that is ours to do?

· In a world full of chatter, how do we find our way to you?

Help us see and respond to the evil at work in the world,

big and small.

For the war in Ukraine, we pray for peace.

We pray for an end to aggression and violence,

cure our warring madness,

We pray for the people of Ukraine,

enduring, displaced, grieving,

we pray not only for peace, but for healing,

and for a restoration of the lives they knew before war.

We pray for an end to all systems that oppress,

particularly American systemic racism,

help us hear the voices of those who are harmed,

that, with them, we might dismantle what needs to end,

and build together a world where everyone can live free and thrive.

We pray for help in ending our rampant consumption

that has brought the world to the verge of climate collapse,

help us find better, sustainable, healing ways of living,

and caring for each other and the world.

And we pray for the needs and hurts of the world.

For those who are unhoused, we pray for shelter,

For those who are hungry, food enough and more,

for those who are lonely, companionship,

for those who are sick, healing,

for those who are grieving, comfort and peace.

In all the chatter swirling in the world,

in the midst of evil, hurt, and harm,

we lean into your love for us in Jesus Christ,

and claim for ourselves and all people

our identity as your beloved children.

May we live lives that reflect that truth of us.

With all your children, in every time and every place,

we raise our voices with theirs,

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.