Sunday, July 26, 2015
Offered by Joyce Shin, Associate Pastor

Great is your Word, O Lord, and great are your works. Each day we breathe in what you breathed out; we breathe in the goodness and beauty of the world you created, and our souls are replenished.

For this we are grateful. There are times when our lives lack rhythm and we cannot find the beat; when we lose sight of the horizon and feel our immediate concerns closing in; when we strive hard though our efforts seem to amount to nothing. It is at these times, Lord, when we need replenishment to be as simple as breathing in what you breathed out.

Great is your Word, O Lord, and great are your works. Your Word and works have always been bold. Just as your Son gave bold direction to his disciples, direct us also.

For there is much to be done, Lord. There are more than five thousand to feed. There are wars to be ended. There are economies to be rebuilt. There are lives that have been displaced and many wrongs to be forgiven. Equip us with the same truths that your Son preached and the same bold spirit with which he accomplished his deeds, so that, relying on these truths and this spirit, we too can be bearers of your good news.

Your good news is not easy news. It does not make promises of wealth and health. It does not promise us happy endings. It is the hard and real news of compassion, justice, reconciliation, forgiveness, and peace. Set us on course to pursue these things.

And when our pursuits become burdensome and we are made weary, give us companions with whom we can share the load. Lord, let this church be such a company of people. Form us to be less fickle than the crowds to whom your Son preached. Keep us within reach of one another so that we can offer our help to each other: words of encouragement and prayer, works of compassion, and labors of love.

In all this, we place our trust and hope in you, Lord, to be in our efforts and to multiply them. And when day is done, we trust that in your mercy and grace, your Word, ever greater than our works, will complete whatever we have left incomplete. For this we pray and hope.

And now, as your Son taught us, we pray: Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church