Month: March 2022

God of the lost, the last, the least, and all who long for home,

when we wander from your ways and waste the gifts you have given us,

welcome us back we pray, so that we may celebrate and rejoice

in your presence.

God, of prodigal grace, we give you thanks for the gift and the blessings of life,

for family, friends, community, belonging.

God of restoration we confess the lines we draw between ourselves and those we believe to be lost. Reveal to us the lostness of our pride, entitlement, and sin.

Transform us and all our broken ways and make us whole.

We pray for our community:

Lead us through the trials; the suffering and sorrow; the challenges and struggles
the tired time, despair, and bleak places.

Continue to grace us with hope, with joy, and healthy relationships.

God whose giving knows no ending, we ask your blessing upon the offerings we freely give. Bless the ministries that are supported here within these walls,

across the street and around the world. Bless the portion we keep – make us wise stewards.

We pray for world peace – especially the Ukraine – hear our prayer for the grieving, those whose homes have been destroyed and are far from home. We pray the wounded, the weary, and the aggressors. We pray for global leaders that they may govern with wisdom and integrity.

Finally, for the church, your body, your hands and feet and heart in this world.

We stand in need of wisdom and deep listening to discern who you are calling us to be, who we are becoming. May your Spirit move amongst us bringing clarity to your call and your will for our shared life together. Bathe us with your grace and you love and may that love move freely into your world.

We pray as those who seek to walk in your footsteps. Amen.

We pray for measures of patience and compassion for all caring for aging parents and loved ones.

We pray for all who grieve. May comfort and peace surround the grieving.

We pray for our Households of Faith.

Lord Jesus, our hearts are broken. The world is quaking amidst grave atrocities and disregard for human life. How your own heart must break and weep. We reach out to you amidst deep sufferings in the world you so love.

We pray for the Ukraine – the grieving, the displaced, the wounded and weary. We pray for the nation’s leaders that they may lead with wisdom, compassion, integrity. We pray for peace through peaceful means.

We pray for all people who are suffering or struggling – the hungry, the poor, the unsheltered. Hear our prayer for victims of domestic violence, those oppressed due to race, religion, clergy abuse, gender, sexual orientation. Open our eyes to see your face in all we meet.

Lord Jesus, we are grateful that as the fig tree you provide us with everything we need to bear fruit. Trees grow slowly. Fruit takes time to develop and mature. Lord, you are the gardener who cultivates and nourishes. We pray for patience to wait, openness to be pruned, that we may be more fruitful to your glory. When we resist growth or change, dig around our hearts encouraging repentance and faithfulness.

We pray for those in our community. For those living with illness, pain, grief. We pray for those recovering from surgery and those living their sunset days.

Faithful God, we give thanks that there is no place we can go where you are not already present. Continue to walk beside us, loving us, forgiving us, renewing us, upholding us and filling us with your hope, joy and love. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen

We also pray for the cares and concerns near and dear to our hearts:

We pray for measures of patience and compassion for all caring for aging parents and loved ones.

We pray for our Households of Faith. May your smile be bright upon each family. Surround each with loving relationships, meaningful work, and focus for studies. Whether at work or rest, bless their hearts and home with overflowing love. We pray for deep peace and comfort at this difficult time. May they sense they are standing on sacred ground because You God are near. Hold them close we pray. Amen

Thank you to Jane Kuepfer for offering today’s Prayers of the People

Merciful God, we reach out to you from a world that is suffering in so many ways.

We pray for this world that you love.

We pray for the Ukraine, for those who have left their homes, for those still there, for families separated. We pray for people in other places of conflict and danger, overshadowed by this turn of attention to what is newly distressing.

For those who are vulnerable and powerless, in any corner of the world, God, bring strength, comfort, hope, justice.

For those with power, God, bring wisdom, integrity, compassion and courage to do what is right. We pray, God, that the destruction will end, that life will be cherished, that the precious resources of this planet will be protected and not wasted.

We pray too for those in our own community today. For those for whom life is hard – those living with illness, pain, grief, change, struggles – we pray. And for those in our community of faith, especially our households of faith for this week. We are grateful for one another.

Finally, for the church, your body, your people, here in this world. We need your mercy and your grace to climb out of the past and live into the future. Breathe your spirit of life into your people and into your beloved world.

Mold our hearts to respond in love, to live in faith and to further your ways.

Cover this world with your strong wings.

Walk beside us each day.

We pray as those seeking to follow and learn from you.

Amen.

We also pray for the cares and concerns near and dear to our hearts.

We pray for measures of patience and compassion for all caring for aging parents and loved ones.

We pray for our Households of Faith. May your smile be bright upon each family. Surround each with loving relationships, meaningful work, and focus for studies. Whether at work or rest, bless their hearts and home with overflowing love. Amen

Lord Jesus, as we enter this Lenten season we yearn to know your ways. We confess that we are tempted to shore up our own security instead of trusting in you and in the strength of your community. Open us to generosity and trust. Free our tightly clasped hands that we may serve and give, heal and protect, hold and lift up, sow and scatter the seeds of peace….

God of peace, the world is shaking due to an unprovoked war, a genocide.

Our hearts ache as we witness violence against peaceful people and the greedy grasping for power. We pray for peace through peaceful means, we pray for world leaders as they discern how best to curb a huge humanitarian crisis – and because you ask us to pray for our enemy, we pray for Vladimir Putin and those under his power doing violence, maiming and needlessly killing.

Lord, hear our prayer…..

Lord Jesus, as people who proclaim peace and strive to live in peace, we confess that our words and actions have caused harm. Create in us a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within us. As your witnesses, may we sow the seeds of peace in all of our relationships, our neighborhoods, workplaces, and beyond. May we spread the pollen of peace and seek justice for those who hunger for bread but only find stones, those who seek justice but can find no advocate who will help them; and those who are in danger and have no one watching over them.

Lord, hear our prayer.

Lord, speak to us in the silence of our hearts.

Show us the way to go as we seek your way…

Pour out your healing grace upon our loved ones who stand in need of healing, hope, and wholeness. We know them by name. You know each need, each one, your beloved. We pray in the name of Jesus, who taught us to come to you saying,

Our Father….

We hold in prayer all who grieve. May each know the peace of Christ.

We pray for all who stand in need of healing for emotional, relational, physical, and spiritual pain. May your healing grace hold the wounded and those who love them. May all those who are struggling receive the care and support they need. We also pray for our Households of Faith.  May your smile be bright upon each family. Surround each with loving relationships, meaningful work, and focus for studies. Whether at work or rest, bless their hearts and home with overflowing love and peace. Amen

Our journey to Good Friday and Easter resurrection begins today with Ash Wednesday.

Lent is a time to prepare our hearts for Christ’s death and Easter joy.

Lent is marked with spiritual practices including: self-examination, prayer, fasting, giving to those in need, and more. In order for our Lent to be a time of renewal and growth we begin this season by remembering our need for repentance and for the forgiveness of God proclaimed by Jesus.

Many Christian traditions offer services on Ash Wednesday including the imposition of ashes.

The previous year’s palm branches are burnt and a smudge in the form of a cross is made on one’s forehead and these words offered:

Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ

Repent and believe the Good News: God longs for you to be whole.

Today you may wish to prayerfully sing “Create in me a clean heart O God” offering your prayer in song.

We are also invited to turn our hearts to God with a Prayer of Confession:

We have not loved you with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength.
We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.
We have not forgiven others as we have been forgiven.

Lord have mercy.
We have been deaf to your call to serve.
We have been unfaithful, proud, and hypocritical.

Christ have mercy.
We have been self-centered, and have taken advantage of others.
We have been envious of those more fortunate than ourselves.
We have loved worldly goods and comforts too much.
We have been dishonest in daily life and work.

Lord have mercy.
We have neglected prayer and worship.
We have been blind to human need and suffering, and indifferent to injustice and cruelty.
Lord have mercy.
We have thought uncharitably about others, and we have been prejudiced towards those who differ from us.
We have wasted and polluted your creation, and lacked concern for those who come after us.
Lord have mercy.
Dear Jesus,

I confess my need of you.

I am sorry for my sin, and I trust that you forgive me.

I accept your love and grace for me

And welcome you into my heart and into my life

Help me believe in you and love you every day,

And help me show the world how great your love is.

I commit my life into your hands. Amen (Voices Together #22)

I pray that our Lenten journey will be a sacred time of reflection, renewal and new birth.

Pastor Kara