Sunday, September 13, 2009
Offered by Thomas C. Rook, Parish Associate

Gracious and good God, we come before you to give you thanks—

—to thank you not only for your greatness as Creator but also for your goodness as our Sustainer throughout life, “our only trust and Savior of our hearts”

—to thank you for your closeness, as near to us as every prayer that we breathe in times of hope and courage and in our times of uncertainty and despair; “before a word is on our tongue, O Lord, you know it completely”

—to thank you that you are beside us to guide us, in the good times and also in the valleys of darkness, for “even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you”

On this Lord’s Day, we give you thanks, O God, for the gift to us of your only Son, Jesus your Anointed One, “the Light shining in the darkness, that the darkness has not overcome,” from whom “we have all received grace upon grace.” We thank you that for us he is that most faithful witness, the Good Shepherd, leading us to you, our God.

Remind us in these moments, O Lord, of the many occasions of your faithfulness, of preserving us in times of danger, difficulties, illness, and temptation, in those places in our lives where we have wandered away from you and from others who love us, and of your mercies in finding us and bringing us back home; your faithfulness during times when we have lived in fear and then, with authoritative word to the winds and waves of life, you have spoken to our troubled hearts, “Peace! Be still!”

As we give you thanks for your gracious presence in our own lives, so we pray this day for all here and around the world, for ones whose spirits need a special measure of hope this day as they face distress of physical or mental illness; we pray for those who need the stamina to seek and secure the daily needs for themselves and their families; and for leaders of countries—of our country—and of cities and states and of this congregation who need the wisdom and goodwill and vision that ultimately come from you, O God.

And so, in all our thanks, in all our concerns, we look to you as our Source, our Way, our Life, our eternal Home. “Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto you and to the Lamb forever and ever!”

And now praying the prayer our Lord taught us, we say in one voice, Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church