Sunday, February 24, 2008
Offered by Calum I. MacLeod, Associate Pastor

O God who brings good things to those who hunger and thirst,
your care for us is shown in how the world is turned upside down for us:
in the wilderness your children ate bread that came from the skies;
your presence and care was shown by water that gushed forth from a rock.
Bread from the sky, water from the ground.

With five loaves and two fish, your Son filled the bellies of the hungry,
and the reluctant, rational disciples had each a basket leftover.
The hungry fed, the skeptical transformed.

And you come to us today,
we whose bounty leaves us empty, whose surplus decays and breeds the bacteria of sin,
you come to us, saying, “Take, eat” and “Drink, see,”
offering your very self that we might be filled, forgiven, and made whole.

God of the topsy-turvy,
who has fed your people and promises us that the feeding does not end,
indeed that what we know here is but a foretaste of the great banquet when all your people will sit together at table,
O God our creator,
hear us as we seek solidarity with your people who cry out for the harvest of justice.

We pray for all who are in captivity to debt,
whose lives are cramped by fear.

For all who depend on the earth
for their daily food and fuel,
whose land and forests are destroyed for the profits of a few.

For all who labor in poverty,
who are oppressed by unjust laws.

For all who know the captivity of illness of the mind or body,
whose hope has been taken from them.

For all whose captivity is to material things they do not need,
whose harvest joy is choked by greed, waste, and boredom.

God of the miraculous bread, and life-giving water,
hear us as we pray that those who sow in tears may reap with shouts of joy
and that the captives may know the liberation of your promise of jubilee freedom.

Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church