Sunday, February 15, 2009
Offered by Thomas C. Rook, Parish Associate

Creator God, Lord of love, we come before you to give our thanks and praise. Believing that you care for each one of us, we bring to you our gratitude and concerns. We thank you for the beautiful interwoven patterns of life on earth and for the unity of our human family within the wide variety of its cultures and faith traditions. We thank you for encountering each of us in ways that nurture and shape our lives by your Spirit. We thank you for inviting us to join with you in furthering your great purposes in this world and pray that you strengthen our vision and our energy and will. While we feel intensely our own needs, open our eyes to the needs of others for whom you would have us be your hands and your heart in this world.

We thank you, O God, that you come to uswithin the ordinary places of our lives, within our daily efforts to hold the pieces of life together. There are many of us who are bending low under the weight of losses—or feared losses—in employment and economic security and quality of life. And we can find slipping away our confidence in the present and our dreams of the future. Save us, O Lord, within our weaknesses and mistakes from being harder, more unforgiving of ourselves than are you toward us. As Christ did with those whom he encountered years ago in their places of pain and insecurity, still find us today, lift us up when we fall, encourage us to stand even if on wobbly legs, reaching forth your strong hand to give healing touch to places where our wounds are most tender.

On this Presidents’ Day weekend, when we as a nation honor two of our greatest presidents, may the strength of will embodied within Washington and Lincoln in their day be likewise found in our leaders of today. May the president and his administration and all our elected officials be blessed with added measure of wisdom and courage for the difficulties our country faces. Remind us, in a spirit of national unity, that the welfare of each of us contributes to the welfare of all of us. Grant us united strength of purpose, O Lord.

And beyond our shores, we bring our concerns for all those in this world who face unrelenting poverty and injustice and lack of hope. May we and our leaders be found busy in the work of peace and fairness within this city, this nation, and into Africa and the Middle East and beyond. Let us not lose heart in the pursuit of peace but look expectantly to that day, as promised by your prophets, “when all peoples shall stream to the Lord’s house and walk in the Lord’s ways, when justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, and when every man and woman and child shall sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid.” Hasten the day, O Lord.

In faith and hope, we pray all these things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, now joining voices in words that he taught us, saying together, Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church