Sunday, July 18, 2010
Offered by Thomas C. Rook, Parish Associate

Creator God of this green earth, this beautiful home that you have established for the nurture of life, we give you thanks this day. Although your great purposes within the universe lie beyond our knowing, yet we can know something of your nature and your intentions for our own lives. We see within the diversity of landscape and life on earth your creativity and sense your love of living things and your faithful, nurturing presence in our lives. And so we thank you, gracious Lord, for breathing life into us and for providing us with so much beauty of color and design that brighten our spirits and point our hearts and minds toward you.

At the same time, through your prophets and through our own life experiences, we know you as a moral force who, in care of your children, calls for justice and fairness in human relations, a God who reminds us of the consequences of our attitudes and actions in life. And so we remember those who struggle with daily insecurity in living each day of life—whether in the Middle East, in Africa, or in Chicago—as they hunger for fairness and justice today. We pray for national and local leaders who need wisdom and goodwill to extend the blessings of freedom into the lives of all citizens. And we pray that each of us find ways of expressing kindness and care within our own lives.

We are grateful this morning, O Lord, for all those in our lives for whom we care and who care for us. And thank you, faithful God, for this community of Christ, for the members and friends of Fourth Presbyterian Church, for their faithfulness and generosity and goodwill, for their voice of advocacy for the voiceless: the stranger and alien, the homeless, the addicted. Trusting, O Lord, that none of these is lost to your love and mercy, we pray today—
for all those who feel alone and close to despair
for ones whose spirits are clouded with concerns about their health
for those who are in need of work and cannot find it
for ones who have suffered loss in their lives, loss that cannot be restored
In all these places of life, may you, O Lord, be readily present.

Finally, we thank you for yourself, O God—for seeking and finding us when we get lost, for claiming us as your own when we have forgotten to whom we belong. In your mercy, provide us with strength for the day and courage for the morrow. And now using words commended to us by our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray in one voice, Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church