Second Sunday in Lent, March 1, 2015
Offered by Joyce Shin, Associate Pastor

In every momentous occasion, O Lord, we wonder if you are there. At every turning point from birth to death, from joy to sorrow, from success to failure, from hope to despair, are you there? We suspect you are. We pray you are.

We pray, Lord, not for quick fixes, because we know that your grace is not easy. We pray not for reversals of fortune or the rewinding of time, because we are realistic. We pray instead for resilience and strength, because life is more fragile than we thought. And because we know the possibility of disappointment and betrayal, we pray always for confidence in the knowledge that the world is good, that you are for us and not against us.

Help us, Lord, to be bearers of that knowledge. Help us to carry that confidence across every threshold, into every precious situation of hope awaiting, of loss and grief, of uncertainty and tragedy. And in our daily lives, help that knowledge to make the difference in how we see the world and what we are willing to do for it.

Get rid of any cynicism and complacency, any baggage that weighs us down, for we already feel the weight of your world. Our hearts are weighed down by the hardships of the world’s own making: in Palestine and Israel, in eastern Ukraine, in Syria and Iraq. Wherever relationships are strained by suspicion and lack trust, wherever power is abused, truth is not told, and calculations are false, lift your people up with the confidence and courage they need to work day-by-day for that day when you will be all in all.

Until then we pray as your Son taught us: Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church