(Adapted from Voices Together #985)
Gracious God, we bring our prayers to you as acts of love for you and for our neighbours. God of mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for ourselves and those dear to us: We pray for your Advent power to flourish inside of our congregation. We pray for your Advent hope to befriend the members of our Households of Faith for this week. We give thanks for our connections with them. We hold them in your light.
We pray for our friends who are contending with sickness, with pain, with uncertainty of diagnosis, with lack of diagnosis. We pray for your inexplicable, healing strength to course through their veins. We pray for your Advent hope to become their physical hope, their mental hope, their emotional hope.
We pray for our community, and for our neighbours. We pray for your welcoming hope to swirl up and down these country roads and the streets of this town, and then to fortify those who are striving to be at home along these country roads and streets.
We pray for the world. We pray for your mysterious and real-life peace to quake in the community of nations, to cause noticeable change. We pray for your ancient heart to buzz inside of political leaders, organizational leaders, and cultural leaders.
Gracious God, we bring our prayers to you as acts of love for you and for our neighbours. God of mercy, hear our prayer. Amen.