Sunday, September 21, 2014
Offered by Shannon J. Kershner, Pastor

Holy Mystery, you are the source of our life,
the love that sustains us,
and the very breath that fills our lungs.
We are grateful for the way you have heard us in the past,
the deep faithfulness you show to us on this day of new beginnings,
and the way you beckon all of us to follow you into your future.
We are deeply grateful for who you are,
for the gift of being created in your image,
and for the way you knit us together as your body.

This day we pray for all those who don’t feel that way.
We pray for those who look in the mirror and do not like whom they see.
Give them your vision. Help them to see your face in their face.
We pray for those in our world whose anger causes their jaws to clench
and their hearts to harden. Gentle them, O God.
May your spring of living water soothe their souls.
We pray for those whose grief chokes all hope.
Loosen death’s powerful grip. Hold them in your light of life.
We pray for those who battle cancer or other illness or health challenges
every day of their life. May they know you stand with them.
May they feel your courage and your strength in their weary bones.
We pray for those who face surgery or other medical treatments.
May your wisdom dwell within the doctors and nurses who care for them.
May they trust they reside in your hands.
We pray for this church, Fourth Presbyterian Church.
You know what you have in store for us.
You have our future in the palm of your hand.
Whisper your call into our ears and our hearts.
Grant us the courage to follow what we hear.
Grant us the wisdom to know when we get off track.
But most of all, grant us the faith to keep on moving and loving,
remembering and renewing.
Holy Mystery, Three-personed God, keep us in your arms.
May we always be faithful in our words and in our deeds,
or may they harmlessly fall away.
It is in the name of your Son, our brother and Savior, we pray, saying,
Our Father . . .  

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church