Sunday, December 10, 2006
Offered by Keith C. Harris, Associate Pastor

God of Advent, we live in the promise that you will fulfill your will for the earth. Yet many nations are in chaos, and even some of our own lives are in turmoil. We pray today for those for whom the holiday season is not joyous or peaceful. We pray for both the perpetrators and the victims of violence that are in our world, both known and unknown to us. We pray for the leaders of our churches, our country, and our world that they might make decisions for us and with us that are for peace, justice, and unity in all places

Loving God, you know that for us this is a season of hopes and fears. We are caught up in our excitement and plans. We worry whether everything will get done and whether our relationships will blossom, bend, or break in the stress of the season. Slow us down, God, and help us place our hope in you. Help us by your Spirit to be patiently expectant of new life and your miracles in our midst. Be our calm center, that we may be channels of your peace to the world around us. As this season continues to unfold, help us, like Mary and Elizabeth, to rejoice in your surprising love. We pray all of these things through the grace of Jesus Christ, for whom even now we prepare for his coming anew. We pray the prayer that when the Christ Child became a man he taught his first disciples and us all to pray, saying, Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church