October 11, 2009

Prayers of the People

Linda C. Loving, Minister for Evangelism

Almighty and gracious God, we are grateful that you have called us into being and know us completely. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, and our prayers spring from a mix of fear and wonder. How blessed we are that you know us by name, and that, when we name you, our fears dissolve into wonder and trust. Open our hearts this morning to your expansive love and to deeper understandings of who you would have us be; open our minds to yet unrealized possibilities of how we might serve you completely and joyfully.

Often we grasp for control, imagining that we create order out of chaos, but from the beginning of time, that has been your gift, your grace—creating order out of chaos. Help us to relinquish our grasping and to instead freely align our wills with yours, transformed by the energy of such holy synchronicity, such creative goodness.

God of compassion, we offer our hope for your healing in your fragile creation, seeking your mercy in lives shaken by earthquakes and tsunamis; by car bombs and gang violence; by abuse and poverty; by loss and illness, confusion and regret. Shake us awake to our utter dependency upon you and to your unending love for us, symbolized in baptism.

We praise you for the universe you have spun into being, and we hope against hope that your will for creation be realized and evil overcome and glory glimpsed and courage granted for one more day—by your grace, one more day of your sovereign love tending the universe and our servant love in response; by your grace, by your amazing grace, made known to us in the Christ in whose name we pray together as he taught us saying,

Our Father . . .