Prayers for the Week of July 28, 2024

Please feel free to join us in the prayers prayed in worship Sunday, July 28, 2024:

Loving God, you created all that is,

and you love every bit of all you have made.

You delight in your creation, and we hear you singing –

it is the song that the morning stars began –

the trees whisper in the wind,

the waves murmur as they lap upon the shore,

the birds and all the creatures of the earth,

call out in joy –

as gathered in this place,

we join that mighty chorus,

and give you thanks and praise.

Thank you for this good earth,

and for the gift of being able to live life here,

and to call earth home.

Thank you for waking us up this morning,

breathing life into us again,

and gathering us into the company of kindred spirits,

alive and pulsing with your great love and abounding grace.

We name the hurt of this world –

already known to you.

We pray healing for the Earth,

for an honest understanding of the damage we have done,

and then for the wherewithal to embrace the transfomrational work that is ours to do.

We pray freedom from all systems that oppress,

particularly persistent, systemic American racism.

We pray for all those who grieve

the killing of Sonya Massey by the very police officers she had called for help.

Do whatever it takes to stop our racism and to end this violence.

We pray peace for a world at war –

peace for Palestine and Israel and Sudan and Ukraine –

wherever there is war.

We pray especially for the people of Gaza,

for an immediate and permanent cease fire,

for the release of hostages,

for an end to collective punishment and genocide,

for the restoration of all that is needed for life –

food, water, medical care, basic human dignity –

and through and beyond all that lasting peace with justice.

We pray healing for all those who are hurting,

For those who are unhoused, shelter,

For those who are hungry, food enough and more,

For those who are lonely, companionship,

For those who are grieving, comfort.

Loving God, you accompany us and love us in every circumstance

with your unshakefoffable love,

that down through the generations, on out into forever, right here, right now.

And so, with everyone around the world, in every time and place, who has ever called 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.

 Photo credit: Acton Crawford, used with permission via Unsplash