"We Praise and Thank You, O Christ" - 11 October 2015 AM and PM

Sunday Morning:

We praise and thank you, O Christ, for the communion we have with you by the bread and wine, and the communion we have with one another because of you. We thank you that you gladly draw near to us, renew us, and graciously fill us. As we have imbibed in the outward and ordinary means of Word, Sacrament and prayer, may our homes and hearts and hopes be full of you, and restocked with your goodness.

High King of Heaven, we implore you to save our country from self-inflicted catastrophes and commotions; and rouse the hearts and hands of the people of this land to compassionately and industriously help those who have lost everything in wildfires or wild floods. And we remember that we are not the only nation in need of your help, and so we pray that all the realms of this round earth may be preserved in fairness and fortune.

Lord God, Mighty God, Compassionate God; “Pity the nations, O our God, constrain the earth to come; send your victorious Word abroad, and bring the strangers home.” And to this end we long to see you move in the hearts and on the minds of many, even maybe some here, who have yet to see that your Son is the way, the truth and the life, and that only through him can anyone come to you (John 14.6).

Lord God, we pray for your Church world over, including the African Methodist Episcopal Church; The Progressive National Baptist Convention; the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church; The Church of God in Christ; Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; and the Missionary Baptist Church. May the Gospel of Jesus Christ be clearly and boldly proclaimed, your whole counsel declared, your honor upheld, your love displayed, and your holiness and justice reverenced. We pray for the enemies of your church, the fierce tormentors of your people and the willful corruptors of your truth; bring their counsels to nothing, and show that you are the Lord. A please set your church as a city on the hill, to whose light the nations will flow, and from which the nations will go as lions lying down with lambs, beating their swords into plowshares, and spear into pruning hooks.

Stretch forth your hand, O Lord, and refresh those who are worn thin….give renewed hope to those who are overcome by bleakness….re-glue those who feel that they, or their marriages, are coming apart….and watch over those who are traveling on land, sea or air….

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Sunday Evening:

“You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things,
and by Your will they exist and were created” (Revelation 4.11 NKJV).

Father from whom all fatherhood is named, who gladly calls us your sons and daughters, and who lovingly disciplines us as your legitimate children; we pray for our families in this church. May the relationships between husbands and wives rightly reflect the relationship between Christ and his Church. May the actions and relations between parents and their children be holy, wholesome and godly – in both directions. May those who are unmarried find their fellowship with you deepened, and their service for you fulfilling. O Lord, hear our prayer.

For those here, and those of our membership, who are living through dark times and stiff situations – strained marriages, straying children, stressed finances, stretched emotional resources, slashed hopes, suffering loved ones…whatever it may be – you are the one who can keep our heads above the waterline, buoy us up to ride the waves and storms; help them, hold them, enfold them in your compassionate arms, and bring them through. O Lord, hear our prayer.

We pray for your Church throughout the nations, including St. Mary’s Episcopal Church; St. Paul’s; Westmoore Community Church; The Gathering; and Lighthouse Foursquare Church; We ask you to help your church; that she may be the pure virgin presented to Christ as she was meant to be. Knowing that the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, may your church be on her guard and not be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. And if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one the apostles proclaimed, or a different spirit from the one she received, or a different gospel from the one she accepted, may it be that she would not put up with it readily, but always hold faithfully to you and your way (2 Corinthians 11.1-4). O Lord, hear our prayer.

Father of compassion and mercy, we especially pray for your churches – our brothers and sisters – who are under pressure, being pursued, and pounded. With the psalmist we pray for them: “Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy scoffs, and a foolish people reviles your name. Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts; do not forget the life of your poor forever. Have regard for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence. Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame; let the poor and needy praise your name. Arise, O God, defend your cause; remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day! Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually” (Psalm 74.18-23)!  O Lord, hear our prayer.