Sunday, February 15, 2009
Offered by Adam H. Fronczek, Associate Pastor

Compassionate God, you meet us in all kinds of places. Sometimes we are seeking you; sometimes we are hiding from you; other times you catch us by surprise. Your closeness meets us in the playfulness of a child’s remark or in the kindness of a friend’s embrace. Your challenge meets us in the spouse who is hard to forgive or the parent who needs our care. The vastness of your world shows itself in the mouths we have not yet fed and the political turmoils we have not yet solved and also in the depth of the seas and the distance of the stars. So we pray to you, O Lord, that your presence might be felt by the neighbor who sits right beside us and also by the stranger who lives far away.

Lord, we pray for those who are weak, that they might be built up. We pray for people who are lonely, for those who have lost a spouse or a child or a friend. We ask that your presence would be felt in hospital rooms and funeral parlors and homes that suddenly feel empty. We pray for the sick and for those who care for them. Where healing is possible, make it so. Where disability has emerged, bring hope and understanding and care. Help us to be agents of healing in your world; as Christ walked among those who were without sight or speech or strength to walk and gave them strength, help us find ways to do likewise. We pray for people who feel trapped. We pray for people who are stuck in cycles of abuse or neglect and for people who live in fear. We pray for people who have made mistakes they feel unable to escape. We pray for people struggling silently to find a job or pay bills. Grant them the courage to share their burdens and give them friends to lean on in times of trouble. Grant them courage to live and persevere and look for new signs of life.

Help us, Lord, wherever we are able, to be signs of life to the world around us. In places where we are strong, remind us not to be a stumbling block to the weak. In places where we are weak, build us up. In all places, help us to work for your glory and not for our own. Clouds and thick darkness may seem to surround us, but you are the one who carries a torch before us, lighting our path, rescuing us from those who would hold us back, guiding our feet in the way of peace. And so help us to put our trust in you, for you alone are Lord of all the earth. May we go from this place in boldness and in kindness; as your son Jesus Christ did, may we seek out those who are different from us and learn from them. May our thoughts and actions show others your mercy and your forgiveness. May our humility be that of the one who taught his disciples to pray for the world and who calls us to do likewise, saying, Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church