Friday, December 30, 2016

Prayers from Sunday, December 18th

The following prayers were written and led by Valerie Andersen for Sunday, December 18th

Creator God, you reign in strength.  The earth demonstrates your glory and mighty power.  We praise and thank you for the world you have given us.  We take hope and courage, O God of creation, in your steadfast love for the world. It is your living creation and we are its stewards.  Help us to use the natural resources your hands have provided in ways that respect and glorify you.  May we live in ways that love your world.  We are grateful for the recent rain and ask for more.
 
As your children we pray:
Come, Lord Jesus.


Redeemer God, you gave yourself, in the form of the Son, as a sacrifice.  Thank you for saving and redeeming the world the same way you created it - through goodness, blessing, and love.  You became flesh and lived among us, near and immediate, participating in the human struggle for light and salvation.  You know our weaknesses.  Help us to walk in our darkness.  Help us to discover hope in the midst of difficult times.  We pray for those struggling - financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually.  You are with them.  Lighten their path.

As your children we pray:
Come, Lord Jesus.


Merciful God, your Holy Spirit lives in our every act of compassion and justice.  Thank you for the blessing of being your hands and feet.  It is an awesome responsibility.  The world is filled with enmity and divisiveness, the work of the evil one.  May your Holy Spirit shine so brightly in and through us, dispersing the shadows of violence and hatred.  Help us share your peace and salvation; keep us alert and ready to sing your story in and through our words and actions with love and justice. 

As your children we pray:
Come, Lord Jesus.


Shepherd God, you protect us.  We thank and praise you for your ceaseless care.  Remind us to stop… To be still…  To linger… To reflect…on the world, ourselves - all God's creation; to reflect on Jesus - human and divine, our Immanuel:  God with us.  The rest in music, the silence between notes, is as much a part of the music as the notes themselves.  That's when musicians breathe.  May we all take time to breathe. To see the Baby.  To be renewed.  To rejoice.

As your children we pray:
Come, Lord Jesus.


"Rejoice, rejoice, take heart in the night, though dark the winter and cheerless.  The rising sun shall crown you with light.  Be strong and loving and fearless.
Love be our song and love our prayer and love our endless story.
May God fill every day we share and bring us at last into glory.”

As your children we pray:
Come, Lord Jesus.

Amen.