Sunday, February 14, 2010
Offered by Thomas C. Rook, Parish Associate

Creator God, we come before you to give our gratitude and praise and also voice our concerns, believing that you care for each one of us. We thank you that you include us in furthering your great purposes in this world—purposes of justice and kindness and love—and pray that you strengthen our vision and will. While we feel our own needs, widen our vision to include 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 strivings to hold the pieces of life together. Some are bending low under the weight of losses—or feared losses—in employment and financial security, in health and quality of life. And some find slipping away their confidence in the present and their dreams of the future. As Christ encountered ones years ago in their places of pain and insecurity, in those same places find us today, O Lord. Reach forth your strong hand to touch and heal the wounded places in our life.

On this Presidents’ Day weekend, when we as a nation honor two of our greatest presidents, may the strength of purpose and lofty vision embodied within Washington and Lincoln be found in our leaders of today. May city and state and national elected officials be accountable—and be held accountable by the people—for honest performance of the duties that have been entrusted to them. Inspire them and us with high goals for our life together and with the courage to address today’s problems today rather than timidly passing them along for others to shoulder later.

And beyond our shores, we pray for wisdom and honesty in facing social and economic challenges. Especially we bring our concerns for all those in this world, including the suffering in Haiti, who face unrelenting poverty and injustice. Let us not lose heart in the pursuit of fairness and 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 that 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