Life is ultimately a gift from God, a gift which can be filled with happy surprises, joyful friendships, deep satisfaction, and ongoing pleasure. However, physical ailments can jeopardize life, making it difficult or painful or seemingly too much of a challenge for us. Today we will be thinking about a woman who lived life to the fullest, but whose last years were an increasingly severe physical trial. Yet through it all, she maintained her strong faith in God. Let us therefore worship the God who blesses us by death as surely as He does by life.
Pastoral Prayer
We come to Thee in prayer, O God, scarcely knowing what to pray or why to pray or how to pray. We confess that we often find ourselves feeling that we are far away from Thee, not because Thou hast drawn apart, but because it is we who have distanced ourselves from Thy presence. By Thy grace, come into our presence when we seem absent from Thee. Touch us by the power of Thy spirit, so that we may know beyond doubt that Thou art with us, and that Thy will for us is only for good, and not ill, for health, and not for illness or adversity.
We thank Thee for all the blessings in our lives, knowing that it is Thy nature to bless us. Help us to use all the advantages we have not only for ourselves but for those around us. As disparate and different as we are from one another, we ask Thee to make us into one human family who value one another and are committed to each other. We recognize that the abundance of our lives is explained much more by the accident of where we born than by who we are or what we have done. And as we praise Thee for Thy goodness toward us, we pray also for people who have far less than we have, and are unlikely ever to enjoy benefits we take for granted. Lord God, enable us to feel genuine compassion for those whose circumstances are far more sparse and difficult than our circumstances. Enlarge our vision to see all Thy children, and not just those who look and who live like us.
We pray for our nation as we continue through the noisy clamor of another presidential primary season. By Thy spirit moving among us, may this process result in political and social unity rather than in discord and disunity. Grant wisdom, discretion, and stamina to the candidates, and wisdom, discretion, and patience to the voters. We pray for all nations everywhere, asking Thee to guide national leaders to seek liberty and justice for all their citizens, and to do their best to maintain peace with their neighbors near and far. These prayers we make in the name of one we call the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, Thy unique Son and our Lord. Now we join together in prayer as he ta`ught his first disciples, saying, Our Father….