June 25, 2023

Offered by Matt Helms, Associate Pastor

Gracious and holy Lord, we sometimes refer to this season in the church year as “ordinary time,” but what is going on in our lives and in our world often feels anything but ordinary.

We continue to pray for an end to the ongoing war in Ukraine and for the millions who have had their lives and livelihoods turned upside down, as well as for those affected by similar humanitarian crises in Myanmar, South Sudan, Yemen, and Afghanistan.

We long for a summer in which all of Chicago can be free from gun violence — particularly for our children and youth — and we mourn for all of the families who have tragically lost their loved ones to this crisis.

We lift up families struggling to make ends meet outside the headlines, feeling the daily burden of rising costs as they try to provide and care for their families and uncertain about what the future might hold for them.

Holy God, we know you have called each one of us to be a part of your answer to the great need that is present in this world — holding one another in prayer, sharing what we have, and living lives defined by compassion and caring. We truly do long to make an impact, whether in changing some of the seemingly intractable problems present in our world or in extending care, support, and relief to the individual lives they affect.

And yet there are also times when doubt creeps in and our belief in your better future wavers. So, help us remember that no matter where we are, where we are going, or what we are doing, ultimately we find our hope and help in you. Even in the immensity of all creation, we believe and trust you hold each one of us in love and you know each one of us by name.

We give you thanks for that truth on this Pride Sunday, knowing every single one of us is made in your very image and we are forever surrounded by your love, as we continue to advocate for a more inclusive vision, both for your church and our wider society, praying for a day when no one would be demonized for who they love or for being who you created them to be but would instead truly experience a sense of your love surrounding them.

And it is because of that love and care you extend freely to each one of us that we ask you to inspire us through your Spirit to offer our own care and compassion to our wider world as well, wherever you might call us to witness.

May your Spirit dwell deep within our hearts so that, in the words of the Franciscan community, we would each be blessed with enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in this world even when others say that it cannot be done. We may only be one person and we cannot change the world by ourselves, but we are still one person and we can change the world more than we may even imagine.

And so together we pray for the coming of your kingdom and humbly ask to be a part of bringing it into being, just as your Son taught us to pray, saying, Our Father …

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church