Shared during Sunday Worship on October 13, 2024.
Eternal God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, from Your fullness we have all received grace after grace. You give us life and nurture us with the fruit of the earth. You place us in families and neighborhoods, and You give us our friends. You provide us with culture and art, wisdom and beauty, to delight our senses and ennoble our spirits. And through the work of Christ and the Spirit, You draw us into fellowship with Yourself. For the sheer abundance of Your gifts, O God Most High, we give you thanks in the silence of our hearts.
Sovereign God, You rule the world with wisdom, and You call all people to enact Your justice and peace. Yet when we look at Your world, we see war and disaster, strife and suffering, violence and oppression. We pray especially for the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East. God, in your mercy, bring those horrors to an end, so that all people—whether Ukrainian or Russian, Palestinian or Israeli—may live in peace. And in our own nation we pray for those impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Guide those who are providing relief and assistance; comfort those who have lost family or friends. For the world and our nation, O Lord, we silently pray.
Holy God, in Christ You adopted us as Your children, and through the Spirit You empower us to share in Your life. Be with Your Church throughout the world. Help us to be united in love, so that we might better witness to Your grace and truth. We pray especially for this congregation, O Lord. Guide our ministers, elders, deacons, and teachers as they seek to build up our community. And enable all of us as we seek to live out our mission to be a beacon of hope and a spiritual home in our city. Finally, be with everyone in our congregation who is anxious or overwhelmed, sick or suffering. For the Church and our community, O gracious God, we silently pray.
We pray all these things, heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus and through the power of the Spirit; one God, mother of us all. Amen.
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