People of faith vary enormously in the strength or weakness of their faith, but all are integral parts of the faith community. Blest indeed are the ties that bind our hearts in Christian love. When we worship, we do so as people who need one another to grow in grace and to deepen our commitment to God and to one another. Therefore let us, with the confidence we have been given as members of the faith community of Christians, worship God.
Pastoral Prayer
O Thou who hast given us life, and hast given it to us in great abundance, we praise Thee for Thy goodness in creating a universe in which billions of beings are able to live together in relative harmony. But in thanking Thee for the created order, we also acknowledge that we are the beings who are the most capable of either enhancing or endangering the earth and all its resources. We trust we have assisted creation in many ways, but we also confess that many times we have also threatened its very existence. Give to all of us a greater sense of our personal and corporate responsibility to be Thy primary stewards of Thine earthly creation.
We pray for people who feel they have been left out of the best that human life has to offer: the poor, who never seem to get ahead in life; the victims of disasters, whose lives take many months or years to return to normal; those who feel they are victims of the schemes of others, and who never seem to be able to extricate themselves from those schemes; those who suffer long-term illness, and who wonder whether they shall ever know good health again; those who suffer from feelings of self-loathing, and who become debilitated by those feelings.
We ask Thee to inspire us to become Thine agents in helping to overcome the obstacles faced by those around us who are not as fortunate as we are. Give us a sense of calling to the ministry of assistance. Open our eyes to needs which are easily overlooked, and lead us to want to provide whatever we can to strengthen the lives and the outlook of people close to us who feel depleted by life. Grant to us the spirit which was in Jesus, who fully gave himself by reaching out to fellow pilgrims in need. All this we ask in his name. Now we pray together as he taught his disciples, saying, Our Father….