A Sunday Evening Congregational/Pastoral Prayer (28 October 2012)


Below is the prayer for Sunday evening, 28 October 2012. Feel free to use it in your church & let me know if you do.
-------
Holy God, you have announced to us in Isaiah 57, “For thus says the One who is high & lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high & holy place, & also with him who is of a contrite & lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, & to revive the heart of the contrite.” We come as your humble people, renouncing our own supposed righteousness, knowing that you are good, it’s your steadfast love that endures forever.

We pray for our fathers still living & the fathers here; you are the essence of true fatherhood & all that earthly fatherhood is supposed to reflect. Therefore, grant us fathers to replicate your fatherly kindness; fill us with your fatherly wisdom that we may know better how to be proper fathers, & see our children prosper under our care. & for any fathers estranged from their children, through misunderstandings, miscommunications, misperceptions: work a wholesome reconciliation & restoration that will fill our hearts with joyful thanksgiving. Be gracious to us & hear our prayer!

We pray for our mothers still living & the mothers gathered here; you have pictured yourself with mother-like traits, as when you told your people through Isaiah, “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you.” Therefore, guide & aid our mothers, who have given their own bodies & lives to their children in so many ways. Cheer & warm their hearts with godly children & grateful progeny. & where there are tensions & broken relationships, heal them so that mothers & children may bow before you, together. Be gracious to us & hear our prayer!

We pray for the married couples in our midst who cannot have children, & want them. As you made Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Rebekah, Elkanah & Hannah able to have children when it seemed impossible, so we pray you would do the same for these. But until that happens, & if it never happens, fill them with a rich contentment, & help them to invest their gifts in loving & caring for others who would cherish their godly attentions. Be gracious to us & hear our prayer!

We pray for loved ones, friends, acquaintances, co-workers, & enemies who have not believed in your Son Jesus….(silence for the flock to mention names silently)... & those who have once confessed their faith in him, but have since drifted away…(silence for the flock to mention names silently)... awaken in them the awareness of their pending ruin, grant them to see the heinousness of their sin, the loveliness of your grace, & to embrace Christ Jesus. Be gracious to us & hear our prayer!

Finally, please bless our nation by restoring the gift & value of God-ordained marriage - one man & one woman, where for better or for worse, richer or poorer, in sickness & in health, they will love & cherish one another until death parts them; & rebuild the important, godly virtue of celibacy for those who are gifted with singleness; so that whether married or single, we may flourish in chastity & purity. Be gracious to us & hear our prayer!
All of these prayers we offer to You through Your Son, Jesus Christ, as we now sing:Hear our prayer, O Lord; hear our prayer, O Lord; Incline Thine ear to us, and grant us Thy peace. Amen (Trinity Hymnal #728)
---
Mike

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“The Shift” - 2023 Movie. A Review

Image
  What do you get when you cross a dark dystopian storyline with sci-fi, alternative dimensions, theological and philosophical questions, and the biblical book of Job? You get The Shift , written and directed by Brock Heasley, produced by Ken Carpenter, and distributed by Angel Studios. This roughly one hour and 45 minute tale swirls around Kevin (Kristoffer Polaha) as he moves from one realm of life, with it’s happiness and heartbreak, to another dimension that is a dismal existence clearly governed by The Benefactor (masterfully played by Neal McDonough). A viewer will be asking questions all the way through, and picking up clues and answers that pull the story together bit-by-bit. The story bumps up against an infinite set of alternative possibilities, of time, space, and versions of one’s self that will likely stoke a viewer’s imagination. But the heart of the narrative - besides love, grief, loss, trust/distrust - is around the place of evil, specifically, personal or human evil.
Read more

"On Getting Out of Bed" by Alan Noble. A Review

Image
  When it comes to family members or friends going through a significant mental crisis, or suffering, we often can feel like we’re fumbling about to help them. Sometimes, we can become like Job’s friends, whom he had to call “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2). But very recently Alan Noble, assistant professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee Oklahoma, and cofounder and editor-in-chief of “Christ and Pop Culture” penned a deeply beautiful 120-page hardback that addresses mental affliction. “On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living” is written for those who struggle with mental affliction, but also pastors, teachers, parents, and loved ones, to “help them understand their loved one’s suffering. It is for anyone who ever struggles to get out of bed” (3). I finished this book earlier this week, and kept finding myself saying, “Finally! Someone gets it!” Eight chapters fill up this handy manual. They run through several subjects, like not sounding like Job’s f
Read more

Community?

Image
  (This is from my letter to my congregation I sent out today, 30 August 2023) As one of my elders was leading us through Carl Trueman’s Strange New World in our adult class , I appreciated Trueman’s emphasis on community. And our discussions, especially the last two Sundays, were very fruitful as we thought out loud together about this subject. Therefore, I thought I would share something from David Brooks, an Op-ed columnist that leans into this discussion.   Brooks published a book in 2019 titled, “The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life”. In that work he was taking a gentle punch at destructive trends he has been seeing, and giving some helpful correctives. And so, he notes that “Individualism, taken too far, leads to tribalism” (34). He then shows how the loneliness and spiritual emptiness of individualism taken too far have become more prevalent in our time and the ways that they lead to very dark social consequences. These darker social consequences foster the need t
Read more