Sometimes we seem to need a break. Life conspires against us, we feel, and we are forced to make moral choices which are neither easy nor clear. And the break we desire may or may not come. In such circumstances, we may think we are isolated and alone. But God goes with us, every step of the meandering way. Therefore, to be strengthened for the circuitous journey, let us, with confidence, worship God.
Pastoral Prayer
We thank Thee, O Lord our God, for being with us and for us and sometimes over against us. Help us to perceive Thee in all the events of our lives, the good and bad, the happy and sad, the uplifting and the inspiring, and the deflating and the dismaying. Teach us how we may more clearly see Thee in all things, so that we may find direction on how and where to turn. We thank Thee also for all the people, present and past, who have been mentors and guides to us in our pilgrimage through life. Grant us wisdom to continue to seek assistance from those whom Thou hast sent to help us.
We pray for our nation as it emerges from another long and edgy election, one which might dramatically change the course of our political life. Be with our newly elected president and with new and continuing leaders and members of Congress. Guide them as they attempt to work with one another in their own plans as well as in the plans of the others. May every elected official be led by Thee to seek the good of the people ahead of the party, and to strive to cooperate with those who have a different political philosophy from their own. In the process, may statesmen somehow emerge from the too-frequent rancor and posturing.
We also pray once again for people who live along the Gulf of Mexico, against whom this year the forces of nature seemed all too often to have conspired. We remember those who died in the many hurricanes, those who have subsisted since then in homelessness, those who are threatened anew by starvation or disease, and those who now have been flooded out of their homes. O God, we cannot understand how or why some people are so beaten down, and others, such as ourselves, live such relatively charmed lives. It is easy for us to live in affluence and security, and surely vexing for them to live in continuous catastrophes. Help us to help the helpless, and therefore to ease their burdens. We ask everything in Jesus’ name, who gave his life to help everyone in need. Now together we pray as he taught his disciples, saying, Our Father….