Our Creator God, we
are reminded this morning that you know all things, including our innermost
hearts, our hidden thoughts, and our deepest desires. You know us, God, and you love us. Our gratitude for this simple reality can
never approach the magnitude of the gift, and yet we are confident of it.
God you are the loving
creator and restorer to those who do not know you, those who have rejected you,
and those who long for you but cannot name that longing. In this prayer we ask that you would reveal
yourself to those we lift to you in this moment of silence, praying that they
would recognize the great love and grace that is for them.
God you have promised that you will provide us with our needs,
and in this prayer we ask in confidence that you bring your healing to those in
need in mind, body, and spirit. We ask
for your restoration to the injured, the ill, the broken, the hurting; those
who are anxious, depressed, suicidal; those who are grieving; those addicted
and in recovery, those who are rebuilding their lives.
God you love those who are rejected, abused,
and abandoned by the world. You tell us that to receive your kingdom we must
receive those who are as small and excluded as a child. We
ask in this prayer that we would have the courage to protect, advocate, and
receive in hospitality those who are seen as unimportant and forgettable in the
world. We ask that we be given opportunities
to provide your saving love to the poor, the sick, the refugee, the marginalized,
the child, the prisoner, the homeless, the hungry. We desire to love and serve you as we love
and serve the least among us.
Creator God, your world cries out for your
restoration. In the brokenness of
relationship, from individuals to nations, and in the brokenness of our
relationship to your world, we cry out to you for peace, we cry out for
understanding, we cry out for resolution.
God we pray for the individuals living in nations we hear about on the
news; your beloved people in Afghanistan, in Russia, in Venezuela, in Yemen, in
Syria, in Nigeria, and others we lift in our hearts. And God we pray for our neighbors – your beloved
people in our own city, in our workplaces, in our lives. Help us to create connection and restoration
with others who are different from us.
Help us to cherish differing cultures, differing viewpoints and
differing opinions, seeing every human as created in your image and crafting
our own character to resemble yours more and more each day.
We ask these and all things in the name of Jesus
Christ, our way, truth, and life; Amen
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