Sunday, April 21, 2002
Offered by John Buchanan, Pastor

Dear God, we come to you this morning, our hearts full to overflowing. We come here to thank you for all the blessings of our life. For the week past, with its tantalizing promise of springtime: for new green life and brave flowers and the bright blue of the lake and the exhilaration of summer days in April. And we praise you for biting wind and gray skies—for the reminders of the mystery and majesty of your creation.

O God, we come with hearts full of love and gratitude for our dear ones: for parents and grandparents, brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren; for lovers and partners and dearest friends, for the marvelous matrix of human beings that blesses each one of us with diversity and passion and kindness and laughter.

We come to you with hearts full of gratitude for our city and, this morning, for the city of Atlanta: for the richness of the human city, its energy and art, music and dance, sport and commerce, schools and hospitals.

And we come with gratitude for our nation and its high ideals and hopes, for its commitment to freedom and equality and justice. We pray for our president and his advisors, for our representatives and judges, for public servants. And we ask a full measure of wisdom and strength, particularly when we do not live up to those hopes and ideals. We ask for a full measure of courage for those who serve in the political structures of our state and nation, that goodness and mercy will replace self-interest and cynicism.

O God, we come with hearts full of concern for the world this morning. We pray for the suffering people of Palestine, invaded, surrounded, living in the rubble of what was their homes, tempted to express their rage in acts of murderous violence. We ask your blessing on them. Give them courage and patience. And we pray for the Israeli people, frightened, wary, strong, and determined never to falter in their defense of their land. Give them strength and courage to do justice, to have mercy, and to extend the liberty and autonomy to their neighbors they have fought so hard and heroically to establish for themselves.

Be with the young men and women of our armed forces, throughout the world.

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church