prayer for Proper 17C / Ordinary 22C / Pentecost +14

Gracious God,
You are a God of hospitality; there is none like you that invites all to come to you.
You have invited all to your home, to your table, and to your arms.
Lord, would that all would hear and receive this good news.
Lord, help us to remember that no one is better than anyone else in your Kingdom.
Help us to then treat each other the way you treat people.
Generous God,
Because you treat us with your tender love,
We take time to pray for our friends, family members and others who need you more than ever.
Pour out your healing on all who need it.
Be generous with your transforming love for those who needs it in their lives.
Bring forth your reconciliation in families, and in places where it is needed.
Gifting God,
You give us the gifts of the spirit to use to further your Kingdom
and to be the Body of Christ in the world.
We take time to remember the people devastated by Hurricane Katrina
and to thank you for the restoration that has already taken place.
Empower us to continue to be your hands and feet
to continue the work that needs to be done there and in so many other places.
There is none like you God in your love, your generosity, your gifting and your hospitality.
And we thank you that you are in our lives, working in us and through us to let people know your kingdom is open to all.
In the name of your son, who opened the doors for all and broke down barriers that kept people from you, amen.


cross posted at revgalblogpals

Blessing Our Cities #7

Continuing our prayers for the blessings of increase, today we ask abundance without grief.

"It is the blessing of the LORD that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it." Proverbs 10:22

God of All,
Many have become rich but find themselves ruined emotionally, physically or spiritually. May these instead find that you impart righteous character with financial abundance. May the ones who seek your wisdom about how to use financial resources find that they are as joyous as they are generous. May they share their prosperity with many others, and may your Kingdom increase. Amen

Communities

Signs of the Liberating Love of God

Jean Vanier

"Communities must not be isolated one from another. They are called to live in communion and to collaborate one with another. They are all part of a vast body uniting heaven and earth, uniting those who have gone before and those who are present on the earth today. And together they are all preparing the seeds that will flower and bear fruit in the generations to come. They are preparing the ways of tomorrow so that the body of Christ may be fulfilled. Each community is but a sign of the liberating love of God."

Source: Community and Growth

Prayer for P 16C / O 21C / P +13

Listening God,
Hear our prayers as we come before you.
Hear the ones who are crying with pain in their heart.
Hear the ones who are weeping with grief long into the night.
Hear the ones who are sobbing in their loneliness.

Loving God,
Heal their pain.
Restore their lives
Mend their broken hearts.

Leading God,
Lead us through the dark valleys.
Lead us through troublesome times.
Lead us to our home with you.

Teach us to listen to your voice,
That we may hear the cry of the needy and respond.
Teach us to love that
We may offer care that brings others to you for healing.
Teach us to lead,
With your vision so that we not lead others blindly through life.

Through your son who taught us to pray:


cross posted at revgalblogpals

Blessing Our Cities # 6

So far, we have been praying for the blessings of peace. Today we begin prayers for "increase," blessings that focus on fullness. God loves to bring increase that results in a fulness of God's character and intentions in us.

Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth...Genesis 9:1

Creator God, in prayer we we bring your first blessing to our towns and cities. May they be filled with those people who will bless and be a blessing. As these people increase in number, may they grow as well with mature wisdom, righteous, mercy toward others, and overflowing joy. Amen

Thursday Prayer

Psalm 71:5-6 "O Lord, you alone are my hope. I've trusted, O Lord, from childhood. Yes, you have been with me from birth; from my mother's womb you have cared for me. No wonder I am always praising you!"

Help me, O God, when I am my own worst enemy. In all things that I do let me always be able to celebrate what you do in my life. Amen. Disciplines

Wednesday Prayer

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again
May you be held always in the palm of God's hand.





(My daughter is now safely back from camp counseling in NC, so I thought I'd post this, since the counselors sing it to the children at the last campfire each session.)

Prayer for P15C / O20C / P+12

O God,
Thank you for the rain here in the South where it has been so needed.
Thank you for the sunshine where it has been needed.
Thank you for the rain of grace in our lives where we have needed it.
Thank you for the sunshine of your Son where we have needed him.

O God,
We continue to pray for those in Russia where the fires and high temperatures have caused a higher number of deaths.
We cry for the lives lost in the flooding in China and Pakistan.
We pray for Mexico with escalated drug wars.
We pray for our own country’s continued recession with continued job losses.

O God,
We pray for faith to live our lives as faithful as the Israelites when they passed through the Red Sea.
We pray for faith to be as courageous as Rahab was.
We pray for faith to finish the race as all those who were before us did, who now stand cheering for us.
We pray for faith to keep our eyes on Jesus who started this race and leads us to the very end.

Amen.

cross posted at revgalblogpals

Blessing Our Cities #5

They have healed the brokenness of my people superficially, saying ""Peace, peace" but there is no peace. Jeremiah 6:14

We do not declare peace in a superficial way. We pray for the healing that Christ Himself can bring. We pray that minds and hearts and lives may be mended, that homes may be restored. And thus, may they come to know a lasting, living peace. Amen

prayer for P14C / O19C / P11

God of mercy and love,
we come to you with our prayers for ourselves, our families, our friends, our coworkers, our brothers and sisters in the world.
Lord hear our prayers
for our children who start school tomorrow or within a short period of time, may their minds be readied.
We pray for their teachers may their minds, hearts and hands be readied as well.

God of hope and peace,
We pray for those who are sick, in the hospital or facing some kind of physical problem. May their strength be renewed. May they receive the kind of healing in their lives they need. We pray for those who are heart sick may their hearts be refreshed. We pray for those who are grieving, may their tears be felt.

God of justice
We pray for the families and friends of the medical team who were killed in Afghanistan. We pray for those that they were bringing medical treatment to. And we pray for those who killed them. We continue to pray for the Gulf of Mexico and for its restoration. We pray for those who are struggling with job loss and job search. Open the doors or jobs for them Lord. We pray for those in Pakistan whose lives have been devastated by the floods. We pray for those in Russia trying to catch their breath in the midst of the smoke caused by major fires. We pray for all effected by this heat wave.
We pray for the healing of our world.

God of wisdom,
Teach us to learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow.
Teach us to have faith in you when we are fearful and unsure.

Oh Lord we thank you for hearing and answering all our prayers. In the name of the one who taught us to pray,
…….. Amen

The Violence of Love

We have never preached violence,
except the violence of love,
which left Christ nailed to a cross,
the violence that we must each do to ourselves
to overcome our selfishness
and such cruel inequalities among us.
The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword,
the violence of hatred.
It is the violence of love,
of brotherhood,
the violence that wills to beat weapons
into sickles for work.

~~Oscar Romero

Peace Prayers: Meditations, Affirmations, Invocations, Poems, and Prayers for Peace. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1992. 85.

prayer for Sunday P13C / O18C / P+10

God of enduring love
When our steps in life our unsure,
When the way to go is unclear,
Guide our path

God of enduring love
When life throws us curveballs,
When things look bleak,
Strengthen us.

God of enduring love
When we find ourselves surrounded by too much stuff,
When we want more and more to satisfy us,
Draw our hearts to you.

God of enduring love
When we lost our hope,
When we grieved and grieved some more,
Hold us in your arms.

God of enduring love
When we are drowning in a sea of debt,
When we are overwhelmed by the tasks of work and life,
Lift us up into your bands of love.
cross posted at revgalblogpals