Prayers for the Week of January 9, 2022

Please feel free to join us in the prayers prayed in worship Sunday, January 9, 2022:

Loving God,

in the beginning you created all that is,

and you called your creation good.

You made us in the image of you,

to live life in community with all creation,

in relationships of justice and love.

In you and with you,

we find our place in the world,

“our place in the family of things.”

With one voice,

we give you thanks and praise.

Leaning into you great love for us,

we pray for a hurting world –

a world we have brought into climate emergency

through our abuse and neglect.

We pray for wisdom and discipline

to embrace new ways of living

that honor, heal, and sustain your creation.

We pray for the dismantling of every system

that works to separate, to exclude, and to harm.

Help us to do the ground-clearing needed,

so that every child of yours might

experience the fullness of belonging –

so that every child can live free and thrive.

We pray for a world still wrapped in pandemic –

healing, for those who are sick;

connection, for those who are isolating;

continued strength, for the health professionals

who have labored through this pandemic so lovingly and so long,

we are grateful for their love and care,

and for their self-giving perseverance.

We pray for an end to pandemic

for the collective will to do what needs be done

to bring your world into the fullness of your healing.

We pray for all who are ailing, in body or spirit – for healing;

for those who are unhoused – shelter;

for those who are hungry – food;

for those who are lonely – companionship;

for those who grieve – comfort.

We pray this morning,

especially for the family of Asma Eschen,

and for all who grieve the loss of this remarkable woman.

Asma has graced the world

with her love and courage and moral clarity –

encouraging us to love expansively and globally,

bringing this community into relationship

with communities in Afghanistan,

responding to war, with actions that strive for peace.

Honoring Asma’s memory, we continue to pray

for families displaced from Afghanistan,

may we be a part of helping find shelter and home.

We grieve the loss of Asma, and at the same time,

claim her hope,

leaning into the sure promise of Resurrection

that we find in you.

Loving God, we belong to you,

and give you thanks and praise with all your creation,

joining our voices, with the voices

of all who have ever called on you,

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.