Sunday, August 23, 2015
Offered by Victoria G. Curtiss, Associate Pastor

We praise you, God, in your hiddenness and in your revelation, in your intimacy with us and your greatness beyond us. How lovely is your dwelling place, O God. We are grateful that you are our Father and Mother and gather us in as your family, whose home we find in you. We thank you that you create in us a sanctuary for your Spirit, and we pray that you dwell within us always, that we may be vessels of your love.

We pray for those who feel excluded from your love, and we ask your forgiveness for our own prejudices that push people away from us and from your church. We pray for those in special need of the family of faith holding them up at this time, whether due to illness, grief, unemployment, homelessness, imprisonment, needing to leave their homeland, or a loss of meaning and direction.

We pray for those on the inside of your church family. Teach us to honor one another, to draw forth one another’s gifts, to celebrate one another’s joys and bear one another’s burdens. Protect us from divisiveness and disunity.

We pray for people of other faiths, that the world makes space to respect different religious paths, all of which lead to you as our common Source of Life and Love.

We pray for places of violence, especially in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel-Palestine, and Syria, that you would end the turmoil, increase trust and harmony, and bring soon the day of peace.

We pray that you would protect and strengthen firefighters in the West as they seek to contain massive forest fires.

We pray for the earth—the only dwelling place for millions of your creatures, flowers and trees, animals of many species, rocks and soil, brooks and oceans—that you will help humanity protect and preserve the beauty and resources of creation for future generations

All this we ask in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray together saying, Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church