Sunday, February 10, 2013
Offered by Victoria G. Curtiss, Associate Pastor

Gracious God, on this special Sunday, we remember the mountaintop experience of the disciples, who had a vision of the glory and power of Jesus Christ in their own lives.

We seek a mountaintop experience within our hearts, where your seed of holiness dwells. Change us somewhere inside where it really matters. May something joyful and strong be awakened within us: Like the blooming of hope and faith. Like a more grateful heart. Like a surge of awareness of how precious each moment of life is, so that we remember that we live and breathe on holy ground.

O God, let us not be afraid to love this world—to experience its beauty and wonder, to be renewed and to be refreshed. Give us new appreciation for the things we see and touch and hear: music, nature, and people. Give us an appreciation for the gift of life and a sense of gratitude and service that will not let us pass people by on the other side but rather be one with Christ as we strive to be healers to those who suffer, to give hope to the needy and a caring heart to the lonely.

Strengthen us to go into the valleys where your light is needed to shine in places of darkness, despair, despondency, and depression. Liberate us so that we will not be afraid to accept the goodness of life—all those blessings that shine and radiate all around us, even through the most difficult challenges.

We lift up to you those who are in hospitals and care facilities, those who know the hurt of separation through death, those who yearn to live in a place that feels safe, those struggling to build bridges of understanding, those discouraged by life events, those who need confidence to go down a new road. We pray for an end to the gun violence that plagues our city and nation. Guide us to create a world in which young people find hope for their futures, futures that take them out of the cycles of poverty.

We pray all this with confidence in you, O God, for you know our needs even better than we do. Let your Holy Spirit flow through us, and make us your own, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught us when we pray to say, Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church