Trintiy Sunday, May 26, 2013
Offered by Joyce Shin, Associate Pastor

Almighty God, we are truly in awe of you. We marvel at your mighty acts, which set you apart from us. When we witness all you have created and accomplished, we wonder: what are we to you? Remind us that you are our Father who cares for us, always loves us, empowers us, and entrusts us.

You have entrusted us with the task of spreading the gospel. Your son, Jesus Christ, depends upon us to tell the story of your love for us, lest your son’s life and death, his labor and suffering, be in vain. Help us to trust that the words we speak will be well-received and will take root in peoples’ hearts.

You have entrusted us with the care of your people, near and far. You call us to stand up for people and the ideals and conditions of life that will help them to flourish. We thank you for those who have put themselves in harm’s way and have made sacrifices of their own safety and their own lives for the well-being of others. Forgive us for the tragedies of life in which standing up for liberty and humanity puts their lives at risk.

You have entrusted us with the care of your creation. We are to be stewards of the earth; we are to treat creation with caution and wonder, gratitude, and care. Forgive us, God, for our short-sighted plans and wasteful practices. Forgive us for our slowness to change habits of production, consumption, and waste even when the world is at stake.

We pray for those who have been overwhelmed by natural disaster. In these days and weeks to come, overwhelm those who have known loss of life and livelihood, the residents of Moore, Oklahoma and elsewhere, with such steadfast love from people near and far that they come to know the power of your Spirit to be more powerful than that of storm and wind.

You have entrusted us with the gift of fellowship. It is in ties formed by your Holy Spirit that we come to know true fellowship. Help us to make and take time for one another, to give generously and receive openly, to be gentle in our gestures and kind in our deeds. Help us to welcome the stranger and to enlarge our loyalties.

You have entrusted us, O God, to make difficult decisions. Give us discerning hearts so that we can know the difference between right and wrong, between that which builds up and that which tears down. Make us mindful of all those on whom our decisions will bear, for we want to be a force for good in this world. When we cannot agree on the right course to take, do all you can, O Lord, to keep us yoked together until that time when, through the working of your Spirit, we can, all of us, come to know your will.

Though you, O Love, have entrusted us with so much, and though we marvel at it, our trust rests ultimately in you. No other is worthy of the praise we sing and the prayers we make. As your son taught us, we too pray to you: Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church