Sunday, June 21, 2009
Offered by John W. Vest, Associate Pastor

Almighty God of all creation,
we join our voices to praise you today,
singing of your wonders,
giving thanks for your grace and care,
and celebrating the joys of life you have blessed us with:
family and friends,
new relationships and deeper relationships,
new life and transformed lives,
reconciliation and restoration.
On this day we are especially grateful for the gifts of fathers
and the gifts of being a father.
We thank you for the many ways that our fathers have shaped us,
for their example and their love.
Yet we also pray for those who have painful relationships with their fathers,
those who are estranged from their fathers
and fathers who are estranged from their children,
and those who are unwilling or unable to accept the responsibilities of fatherhood.
Dear God,
even as we praise you and thank you,
we are mindful of the storms we face in life
and keenly aware of our inability to calm them,
our inability to do anything but endure and rely on you.
There are as many storms as there are people, God, and even more than that:
loved ones who are sick and dying,
family and friends whose lives are taken suddenly and tragically,
relationships that are strained or ending,
substance abuse and addictions,
depression and loneliness,
violence in our city and across the world,
and so much more, God—
so much more that you hear in the cries of our hearts.
In all of these storms,
give us peace;
help us to be still;
help us to be faithful.
God of peace and justice,
we also remember those who are oppressed this day,
those whose freedoms are constrained or denied,
those who cannot thrive or survive,
those who cry out for liberation.
Like brave David, who stood up to the giant,
some of us are eager to fight,
eager to do whatever it takes to end oppression.
Yet some of us are also wary of using violence to fight violence,
and we desperately look for nonviolent alternatives.
This week our hearts and minds have been drawn to Iran,
as we’ve watched peaceful, silent protests
turn into deadly violence and displays of power and aggression.
We pray for the people of Iran and for their leaders,
and for the leaders of the world, including our own.
We pray for an end to violence;
we pray for freedom and liberty;
we pray for peace and justice;
we pray for a future of cooperation and coexistence.
Gracious God,
the storms and giants of life are great,
but not as great as you,
not as great as the hope we have
in the good news of new life and restoration that you promise.
No storm is too violent, no giant too big, no person too evil, no situation too bad
to be beyond the reach of your redemptive love.
We humbly pray, God, for the coming of your kingdom,
the coming of the new world that Jesus showed us,
the brave new world we are called to live into even now.
So hear us as we pray for that world, using the words that Jesus taught us. Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church