Sunday, January 15, 2012
Offered by Victoria G. Curtiss, Associate Pastor

God of all races and nations, 
we praise you for all your faithful servants who have said Yes to you,
  and followed your call;
for all who have done justice, loved mercy, 
  and walked humbly with you. 
For apostles, martyrs, leaders, and saints, 
  and for humble folk whose names were never in the news, 
  but are recorded in your book of life,
we give you thanks.
Especially this day we thank you for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
  for his courage and conviction,
  for his passion for peace, 
  and for his tireless quest for a nation that keeps faith with its promises.

For Coretta Scott King and the King family,
  Rosa Parks, James Meredith, Malcolm X,
and countless others who stood in the front lines and marched,
integrated schools and restaurants,
walked long distances for many months until buses
  allowed all people to sit where they chose,
we give you thanks, O God. 
For nameless multitudes who suffered the tortures of slavery
  and the tyranny of oppression,
who were beaten, raped, and lynched;
and for the nameless multitudes today whose lives are stunted
  and cut short by economic and social structures of brutality and racism,
we grieve and promise to work for justice, O God. 
And for children, women, and men of every race and nation
  who are denied education, health care, jobs, safety, housing, and hope,
we grieve and promise to work for justice, O God. 

Gracious God, you create us, you love us, and you call us;
  you make us to live together in a community. 
We thank you for all your children who have been filled with your vision
  for our lives and who have served to bring your vision into reality.
Fill us with your vision. 
Guide us to live by your vision,
  working to build the beloved community where everyone is welcomed,
  all are valued, power is shared, privilege is no more,
  and all your children know wholeness and well-being. 

We lift up especially this day those who are ill or grieving,
  those who are discouraged or without work,
that your Spirit may surround them with your comfort and hope,
  and that you would use us as your instruments.
All this we pray in the name of Jesus Christ,
  who taught us to pray together saying, Our Father . . .

(Prayer adapted from “Litany of Thanksgiving and Praise” and “Closing Prayer” from Martin Luther King Jr. Day worship resources: www.pcusa.org/peacemaking.)

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church