Loving and Nurturing God, as we continue our Lenten journey, we ask your blessing upon us. We thank you for one another, and for the gift of this community of faith and others like it all around the world.

We give thanks for the blessing of friends and families who care and give support in times of need and celebrate with us in times of joy. Truly these are the sources of your love and nurture that keep us bearing the fruits of our faith. We see you reflected in the kindness and compassion of the people around us, and we do give thanks.

God, we pray for all who feel alone in their struggles. May they know the power and peace of your presence, and feel the comfort of the Holy Spirit in and around them.

We pray for all who are grieving the loss of a loved one, for the walk of grief can be a desolate one. We pray for all who are ill or undergoing tests or treatments for illness of body, mind or spirit.

We pray for all who are suffering in poverty and for all who are hungry or thirsty this day. We especially pray for the community of Nipigon in the wake of the mill fire.

We pray for children everywhere, especially during this March break, that they might enjoy this week and stay safe. We pray also for all your creatures upon the earth, especially our domestic pets for all the joy they bring to us. We pray for this planet on which we live. Help us God to be better stewards of this great gift.

God, we pray for peace in our time. We pray, stop the genocide in Darfur, stop the war in Iraq and the continued struggle in the Middle East. Wherever your people are harming one another, we pray, send the peace that only you can provide.

These prayers we join with all the prayers of our hearts as we share together in the prayer that Jesus taught his friends to say whenever they were gathered…...


Amen.