Sunday, February 8, 2009
Offered by Alice M. Trowbridge, Associate Pastor

Everlasting God, Creator of the ends of the earth, from the beginning creation has told of your majesty and grace. From the blazing of the early morning sun through the night with its hovering canopy of stars, you are our sure foundation. From your hand has come all that you have given us to enjoy. From our birth through all the course of our lives and to the end of the age we are held in the embrace of your love. Today we come seeking a deeper trust and your reassurance in these promises, covenanted with us through Jesus Christ, who is our bright morning star.

Loving Lord, visit with healing grace all who need your ministry in body, heart, mind, and spirit. We know how to work hard, to keep our heads down, to labor, and to wait. We can grow weary beneath the burdens of our time; we can feel powerless in the face of uncertainty and unknowns. Yet you do not grow weary. You strengthen the powerless, and you have given us prophets and martyrs and saints who proclaim your bold design of justice and mercy and peace in the world today just as they have done throughout history. In you, barriers between us crumble. In you our hurts find release. In you the struggles of daily life hold within them a contour of hope, for you are always there, quietly reaching out your tender hand to all who will respond. Help us to lift up our eyes to see you and to trust in your rich promises of grace.

Remind us of the preciousness of each moment of our lives, that each moment may count for truth, for harmony, for love. Make us aware that in our work, in our deliberations, in our family lives, in our life together in community, we are building these moments by your grace and within the vast framework of your eternity. Anchor us in the knowledge that etched into the human heart is your law of love, which sets our feet upon the rock that none can move, and in the uneven motions of this world, make our steps secure. For we seek to be your reconciling people, with a commitment as builders of the kingdom, to make of this old world something new, with a new song on our lips, and with renewed strength to mount up on wings like eagles.

For we pray in the name of the one who came into the world to know us, to walk with us, to never let us go, Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught his disciples to pray saying, Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church