"Prayers of the Community"

A Prayer by Ray McGinnis
March 22nd, 2009

 

"Creator God, each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other's eyes,
or not, about to speak or speaking.

 

Someone is stiching a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.

 

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

 

Someone is longing for relationship, for
connection, to be witnessed, to know our lives matter.
We pray this day for friends and family, for the networks of support
that bind us together in the fabric of society.

 

We pray for places to worship you, and as we
gather in this sanctuary, may we sense
oportunity for shared interest, vision, service
and compassionate action among all here:
friends, strangers, spiritual compansions.

 

May we as the body of Christ be open to the many
ways we fit together to do your work in the world.
May we sense how immense are the resources of your grace
and devote ourselves to the good deeds you, O God,
have designed for us - our spiritual gifts and talents.

 

Spirit of life that flows against our flesh,
sets it trembling, moves across it as across grass,
erasing every boundary that we accept,
and swings the doors of our lives wide,
we pray for all who feel disoriented, orphaned,
who have lost their way.

 

We pray for all who grieve.
Be present to those who are troubled, to those who mourn.

 

Some are worried, some are distracted and stressed out.
Be, O God, for them a source of comfort and ease.

 

O God, we live in a world where religious beliefs can
bring people together, but also lead people into warring madness.
In a world of exactness, of creedal statements,
what would a child say?
What if the mightiest word if love?

 

Loving God, help us to believe in the power of love,
but let our believing be born of love itself,
that our minds may be guided by our hearts,
ever opening to you
ever opening to the One
who taught us to love God and our neighbour as ourselves,
ever opening to the deep message of the prayer Jesus taught us,
saying..."

 

Loving God, in Whom is Heaven

Hallowed be Thy Name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done

On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

Lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the Kingdom

The Power

And the Glory

Forever and ever,

Amen.