What a difference a day makes. When we woke up this morning, the sun came up an hour later than it did yesterday, and this evening it will go down an hour later. The seasons come and go, aided and abetted by government decisions. It is when we are most aware of the cycles of the seasons that we also may be most aware of the perpetual grace of God, which is with us in every moment and day of our lives. Therefore we gather in confidence to worship the God of both time and eternity.
Pastoral Prayer
Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe. Thou hast created everything that exists with an astonishing interconnectedness, and everything that is is related in some way to everything else that is. We praise Thee for Thine inexpressible creative purposes, and we ask Thee to help each of us to do all we can to assume our rightful roles in the stewardship of the created order. Give us as much concern for everything and everyone as we have for our own personal desires and needs, so that the world may better reflect Thy plan for its existence.
We thank Thee for Thy care of all of us, in all our individual circumstances and situations. We pray especially for Thine aid for everyone who temporarily or permanently faces extreme difficulties in life: those who live in the midst of ongoing warfare; those who never seem to fit in with others; those who bear heavy burdens which cannot be lifted from their shoulders; those who are constantly ill, especially with mental illnesses which isolate them; those for whom constant stress never gives them a moment of respite; those whose family situations are deteriorating, and who do not know how to stop the painful process. We pray for the members of our own families, asking Thy blessing upon each of them in their own unique circumstances. We thank Thee, O God, that we can turn to Thee in prayer for everyone about whom we have concerns, knowing that Thou dost hear and answer every prayer.
Forgive us for our failures to do Thy will, and for our sins of commission and omission. Give us a proper sense of our shortcomings, so that we are neither rendered catatonic by them nor do we ignore them altogether. We pray for heightened sensitivity to all the issues which confront us daily, demanding a proper response from us. Help us especially to live through those situations where we have no good choices, but only bad ones, and give us the necessary courage to choose the least bad. We ask these things in Jesus’ name, who himself faced the same kinds of situations. Now we pray as he taught us, sayin g, Our Father….