Sunday, July 17, 2011
Offered by Adam H. Fronczek, Associate Pastor

God of grace and truth, we come into your house this morning humbled by the ways we have fallen short of your glory and your hopes for us. So often we have been indifferent and lazy with our faith in you and our love for one another. And so we have come into your house this morning to slow down, to remember you, to remember the real needs of others and of ourselves, and to give thanks for your blessings to us.

We are concerned for our community, our nation, and our world. Watch over our leaders, O God, and help them to be wise with the authority they have been given. May they be motivated by progress and not by politics. Merciful God, be kind to the people and places in our world that politics often forgets. We pray that your presence would be known among people who are poor and hungry, children without families and homes, and people who live in the midst of violence. Calm the gang activity of the summer months, and ease the pain of those for whom the heat of the day is truly a danger.

We ask your presence among people who have needs that are not always visible to us. Remember, O God, people who suffer from mental illness, depression, or anxiety. Remember the elderly who are alone and the sick who languish in hospital beds for days or weeks or months on end. Remember people who grieve the loss of a loved one and those who worry because there is not enough money, not enough food, or not enough work.

We bow to you in prayer, O God, but we ask that as we leave this place today, you would lift up our eyes. Help us to see the world around us in all of its pain and all of its glory so that the prayers we speak are not empty phrases but are reminders of the life we must practice. Help us hold on to one another for comfort and encouragement. Help us accept the riskiness of what we hear in this place, as words on a page become your Word. Make us active workers among the needs that surround us, and help us to look past our normal passing observations and into the real depth of things. May our time in your house move us from our indifference into new and better ways of living. Where we continue to seek comfort in a pill or a bottle, where we have used our credit cards or where we have used other people in the pursuit of pleasures that do not last, help us to change our hearts and deepen our lives. This is our prayer, O God: that we would not neglect this day you have given us. May we find blessings in the sights and smells and sounds that surround us. May we understand the value of the fleeting time you have given us on this earth. May we look into the eyes of our loved ones and see a loved human being created in your image. And when we look into the mirror, may we see a child of God, and count ourselves blessed. Amen.

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church