April 24, 2022

Offered by Jeff Doane, Parish Associate

Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, we give you thanks and praise for the natural order that you have entrusted to our care. We are grateful for the air that surrounds us, the vast reaches of the lake and the winding bends of the river, for green growing things and colorful blooms emerging, as the songs of birds grace our hearing. Help us find our way as caregivers, not exploiters, of your planet, O Creator.

This morning we are so grateful for the confirmands and the leaders who have accompanied them on their journey this year. May we welcome these new members as siblings in Christ, as they enrich the life, ministry, and mission of our congregation.

We thank you, O God, for our spiritual ancestor Thomas. We pray that constructive doubts become “the ants in the pants” of our shared faith, leading us beyond complacency.

Yet we come to you in deep lament this morning, just and peaceable God. We long for a cease fire and a just peace in Ukraine and restraint on the part of our Russian neighbors. End the violence that shatters our world, stretching from Yemen and Myanmar to the streets of Chicago.

We lift up our neighbors at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Englewood. May you, our risen Lord, embolden their continuing witness, despite the fiery destruction of their church building. Grant them new life, we pray.

We long for your healing and comfort with friends, family, and neighbors in need this day. Renew and sustain caregivers, we pray. Help those who are hurting know your companionship, your presence with them in the midst of pain and struggle. Comfort all who are isolated and grieving, gracious God.

Lastly, we pray for ourselves. May we experience tangible signs of new life as your Easter people. Stir among us that we may live our way forward as a congregation through fresh forms of life and ministry. All this we pray through our risen Lord, who taught his disciples to pray: Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church