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Pastoral Prayer
 

Lord, help us to pray.  Many of us don't find it easy; some of us no longer try, none of us can do it as we ought without your help.
But, we want to pray, to know that you hear and are there, loving and caring for us.

Open our eyes to see your presence with us not as some shadowy thing but as the one intimate reality in whom we love and move and breathe, the source of all light and life and power, glorious beyond our imagining, yet humble and gentle as a new born baby in Bethlehem's stable. Help us to talk to you simply and honestly as children to their father without constraint or pretense or embarrassment, knowing that if we ask awry you will give us not what we foolishly ask for but what you in your love and wisdom know to be best.

Help us to listen to you now, to hear what you are saying to us not only through the reading and preaching of your Word, but also through the voices of others and the songs of this service.

We lift to you our church, human and broken in many ways, yet divine in its inception by the Holy Spirit, alive in communities around this globe, where people gather to exalt the name of Jesus and give thanks for the life given us through him. Thank you for the gift of this faith community which continues to proclaim your love and life. Continue your work of redemption in it and in us, that we might grow more and more in love with you, our Father, and proclaim your love more faithfully.

We pray for this nation, its leaders and those who serve to protect us both here and around the globe. Give wisdom and grace to those who lead us, and protect those who serve us.

Thank you for the Service of Remembrance for those who grieve. We ask your comfort and special strength for those who grieve...(Rosemary Abma, Bill Reardon, Jean Jackson, The Clark Family, The Blaga Family, Lucy Palmatory and Charlene Terry.

We pray for those who are ill or deal with ongoing medical problems, that your presence and joy might be with them.

Bless all families. Help us to live in love and listen to each other. Give us grace and patience. Strengthen all marriages.

We pray for those whose relationships need your healing hand. Help us, Lord, to hear your word to us, so that we might not speak before we have first listened to others. Teach us by your love and patience to continue to pray for all our relationships, so that you might be reflected in them.

We pray for those who teach, both in the church and in the schools. Thank you for those who have said yes to this often daunting task. May they know your delight in them and may those whom they teach find you reflected in their lives.

Thank you for this season, and for the joy we have because of you. Hear now our silent prayers for our joys and concerns:

And now, we offer you the prayer Jesus taught us to pray, saying...

                                                                         THE LORD’S PRAYER

 Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
and forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil;
for Thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
               forever.         Amen