Life is an immeasurable gift from God to all of us, and God wants us to live it in a quality that is as full and lengthy as possible. When it comes time for life to end, we hope to give it up gladly, trusting that there is a far better life beyond this one which God has prepared for us, one in which there is not illness or pain or death, but rather eternal life with Him in His celestial kingdom. Therefore, as we reflect on the tenacious and also tenuous nature of physical life, let us, with confidence, worship God.
Pastoral Prayer
We give Thee the highest praise and thanks, O God, for giving us life, and for filling our lives with good things far beyond our complete understanding or our deserving. We realize that if we did not have life, we could not reflect on its blessings and its meaning. But for reasons known only to Thee, Thou hast ordained life not only for us but for everyone and everything that ever lived, and for that too we give Thee thanks. Help us to live our lives to the fullest degree of which we are capable, and then, when we have run the natural number of our years, to give our lives back to Thee in gratitude, trusting in the hope of the resurrection to eternal life.
We pray for those for whom life has ceased to be a blessing, and has instead become a curse to their way of thinking. We pray for those who live in constant pain, month after month and year after year, longing for death, and wondering whether Thou hast forgotten them. We pray for those who do not feel pain, but for whom life has become nothing more than continuing illness and physical deterioration, and they also long most of all for the cessation of life which death alone can provide them. We pray for people for whom mental illness seems to make life intolerable, and who pray to Thee for an end to their existence. Be with those who minister to all such people in all such circumstances. Give them insight, understanding, patience, and stamina to try to grant comfort and hope to people who scarcely if ever feel comfort or hope.
We confess, Lord God, our inability to understand all things and to act helpfully in all circumstances. Grant to us moral courage, boundless empathy and sympathy, and a willingness to bear burdens for those who feel they are no longer able to bear their own burdens. These things we ask in the name of Jesus, the Great Physician for us all. Now we pray together as he taught his disciples, saying, Our Father….