Every congregation everywhere is a conglomeration of older and younger people, wise and not so wise, relatively- and not-so-relatively-finished products. Whoever each of us is, when we gather for worship, we do so in the hope that worship will not only inspire but also transform us, and that it shall help us become the person God means us to be. With that aspiration in our hearts and minds, let us therefore, with Christian confidence, worship God.
Pastoral Prayer
Lord of all creation, we praise and thank Thee for having created the world we live in, and for doing so with such exquisite care and forethought. We marvel at how intricately well nature operates most of the time, and how it ordinarily benefits the well-being of every species on the planet. Help our species, as the primary caretakers of this small speck of Thy total creation, to give good and wise custody to those things for which we have the main responsibility. Particularly we ask Thy blessing and guidance to be with those whose decisions have enormous ecological and environmental impact. Make them increasingly conscious of the vital role they play for all of us, and for the entire world.
On this Fathers Day we thank Thee for our fathers who influenced us, and who have crossed from this life into the life which never ends. We praise Thee for Thy spirit working through them, and for the worthy thoughts and ideals they instilled in us. We pray for earthly fathers who continue to do the best they can to serve as examples and instructors to their children, and who seek their good in all they do. We pray also for fathers who have never owned up to their paternity, and who walked away from the mothers of their children, leaving them to raise the children by themselves. Forgive them for their heartless indifference, and grant particular strength and wisdom to the women and children whom they abandoned. Help all fathers to become as much like Thee as Thou art Father to us all.
Bless those who are dying, those who are ill, those who care for the ill and dying, those who have been totally forgotten, and those who have isolated themselves by their bad behavior but who nonetheless need compassion and consolation. Uphold all of us, whatever our needs or challenges. These things we pray in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, whom we call “Lord.” Now together we pray as he taught his disciples, saying, Our Father….