Prayers for the Week of June 30, 2024

Photo credit: Niilo Isotalo, used with permission via Unsplash

Please feel free to join us in the prayers prayed in worship Sunday, June 30, 2024:

Loving God, you have created all that is in love,

created us for life lived in community,

in good times and not so good,

created us to build with you

a world in which everyone can live and thrive,

a world where everyone belongs.

We give you thanks and praise.

Knit together in love,

we bring to you the concerns that weigh heavy on our hearts,

around the world, and so very near.

We pray for the nations of the world.

In places of war, we pray for peace –

for Ukraine, and Sudan, and Israel, and Palestine –

we pray for peace with justice and healing.

We pray for the people of Gaza,

for an immediate ceasefire, and a release of hostages,

for restoration of access to all things necessary for life,

for rebuilding in the wake of unimaginable destruction.

For nations in discernment as they head toward elections,

including our own, we pray for wisdom –

may we value collectively  the well-being of the most vulnerable in our midst,

and expect of our leaders honesty and human decency.

We pray for the dismantling of systems that harm,

particularly our own systems of entrenched racism.

May we live into our affirmation that all are created equal in the image of you,

and rebuild a world where all are free to pursue life, liberty, and happiness,

where all are free to live and to thrive.

We pray for those who are unhoused, for shelter.

For those who are hungry, food enough and more.

For those who mourn, comfort.

For those who are ailing, in body or spirit, healing.

For those who are lonely, companionship.

Loving Christ, in you, we are one body to which everyone belongs. And so, with all those in every time and place, who have ever called your name, we pray the prayer you 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.