November 8, 2020

Offered by Rocky Supinger, Associate Pastor

Loving God,
who through Jesus healed disease,
chased away loneliness,
and calmed the most turbulent of storms,
be near today to all who are suffering
the continued effects of the Coronavirus—
those who are sick, perhaps critically so,
as well as those who love them;
those who grieve the loss of one—or more than one—dear one to the virus;
those isolated from their friends, their families, and their neighbors,
enduring days upon days of loneliness;
those whose work has been disrupted or eliminated;
students trying to learn and teachers trying to teach;
caregivers, nurses, doctors, and researchers—
be near, O God, to heal and to strengthen,
to provide and to comfort,
so that we may endure this trial
and that its end might find us more faithful
than we were at its beginning.

Ruling God,
preside over the nations of the earth
with your justice and your mercy.
May the conclusion of our country’s election season
yield a citizenry tempered by the anxiety of it all and
fortified to work together for the common good,
in faith, in hope, and in love,
that the vulnerable among us would be protected,
truth might be esteemed,
and equity be achieved for all.

God of peace,
we pray a prayer of gratitude today
for all of those who have served our country
through its armed forces,
for their bravery and their sacrifice have surely
shown the best of who we can be.
Hear our prayer of gratitude, O God,
even as we pray with the prophets
for that longed-for day when all swords
shall be beaten into ploughshares,
every tear will be wiped from every eye
and war shall be no more.

Creator God,
whose Spirit blew over the chaos to give light and life,
move in and across your creation now.
Where fires and tropical storms threaten life,
provide shelter and relief.
Send rain to the drought and dry land to the flood.
Preserve your creation, O God,
in the face of a warming climate and rising seas,
that all humanity might wonder at your love
and purpose revealed in it,
to your great glory.

God of the church,
this congregation and the church universal,
abide with us in our worship and our service,
our praying and our feeding,
our clothing and our learning.
As we commit ourselves anew to Jesus’
ministry of compassion in this place
for this time,
may your church thrive in its proclamation of good news
and its preservation of the truth,
its promotion of the right and its nurturing of community,
that all who behold your church would see in its life
the first fruits of the life yet to come,
the goodness and the beauty of your reign,
begun among us even now.

We pray all these things in the manner Jesus taught,
saying, Our Father …

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church