Sunday, March 2, 2014
Offered by Edwin Estevez, Pastoral Resident

God of all graces, we come to you just as we are, full of hope but also doubt, seeking your promise of new life but struggling with our past, comforted by your Word but also heavy with burdens.

We try to see the world as you see it, full of possibility, the possibility of redemption; we try to see its systems, threatened with resurrection, with the possibility of life in the midst of death, dearth, and destruction. And yet our world seems to us, at times, chaotic, without reason, random, full of violence, needless suffering, and want.

We see images of the places that know war
     —Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Colombia;
images of bitter division in our congress and among our elected leaders;
images of gun violence in Chicago, St. Louis, Columbus, Newark;
images of brothers and sisters who hunger, who have no homes
     and seem hopeless.

We see these images, and it is difficult for us to imagine the world as you see it; it is difficult to imagine that a new world is possible; it is difficult to imagine the possibility of transformation.

Yet we trust in you, O God of all possibilities; we believe, help our unbelief. Transform us into partners in the world’s transformation, as we ourselves are transformed into agents of your justice, mercy, and love.

Hear us now as we pray the prayer your Son taught us: Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church