Please feel free to join us in the prayers prayed in worship Sunday, November 12, 2023:
Loving, nurturing God,
you created all that is –
created us in love and for love –
to live lives in community,
connected to all creation and to each other,
living life with you.
We thank you for the gift of living,
and for gift of each new day.
This day, we pray especially for children,
those near to home, and those all around the world.
We pray for the children of this congregation
for all the children of all our families and extended families.
Help us to put their well-being at the center of all we do,
keep them safe, help us care for them, and nurture them,
so that they can grow into everything you have created them to be and do in the world.
We pray for the children of the San Anselmo Preschool,
giving thanks for the leadership of the teachers there,
may their days be filled with lively learning.
We pray for the children of Marin County,
and especially for the children of Marin City and the Canal district.
We pray here every week for the dismantling of systems of American racism,
may it be so in our own segregated county,
may the children of Marin City and the Canal district
have every opportunity to learn and thrive.
Give us, the adults of this county,
the humility to see the ways that we participate in systems that harm,
systems that perpetuate racism;
give us the courage to work for change.
We pray for the children of this nation and for all children around the world.
We pray for the children of Palestine, of Gaza, suffering now the violence of war.
We pray for an end to every type of violence,
for a cease-fire that will enable humanitarian relief
that will secure and support the basic human rights of children and all non-combatants.
We pray for Israeli children, particularly those held hostage,
we pray for their immediate release, for their freedom.
We pray for peace – a peace with justice
and a lasting change to systems that oppress.
We pray for children around the world –
the children of this generation –
but also the children of generations yet to come.
We acknowledge the ways that we have harmed the Earth
to the point of crisis and collapse,
help us to repent, and change,
adapting to the new realities we have created
with a single-minded commitment to repair the world
so that the children yet to come,
may have every opportunity to live and thrive.
Open our hearts to new opportunities to love and serve,
new ways of living, that bring healing to the sick,
comfort to those who mourn,
shelter to those who are unhoused,
food enough and more to those who hunger,
and love to those who are lonely.
With all your children everywhere and in every place,
we join our voices with theirs, as 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.
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