Almighty God,
From the very beginning of creation when chaos moved, you have hovered nearby. When your people became strangers in a strange land, you showed them the way through the wilderness to liberation, through hardship and into covenant community. When wars and tyrants swept across the land, sending multitudes into exile, you gave them strength to resist the demands of their captors by hanging their harps on the willows.
For centuries the faithful persevered, awaiting the hope your prophets spoke of, and the peace and justice Christ came to proclaim. Remembering Christ’s gifts, and the gifts of the prophets and saints, both every day and extraordinary, who have followed in Jesus’ footsteps who guide the way today, we sing your praise in a land that feels stranger to us hour by hour.
Trusting in your faithfulness, we bring our prayers to you:
Help us to persevere in hope as we face life’s challenges. We rejoice with those whose surgery and rehabilitation have brought good news. We ask your comfort those who weep for lost loves. Be present to those with the unexpected diagnosis and the looming doctors’ visits and treatments. Sustain those who await decisions about their post high school plans and those whose employment is uncertain. Bring all who suffer through addiction and mental health challenges into your care.
Strengthen in us a persistent way of peacemaking in a world that seems bent on division. When we are tempted to repay evil with evil, remind us to pause and to breathe. Let kindness be our way. Be the possibility of de-escalation and disarmament. Be the aid that provides food and medicine to those in far places whose circumstances are unimaginable to us. Be the treaty that honors true allies. Let your truth be a compass, pointing the way through entrenched conflicts.
God of unending love, show us how to persevere with loving care for our neighbor, especially those seeking refuge from war and violence, those who are oppressed by poverty and injustice, and all whose lives and freedoms are at risk because of their gender, race, health, or ability. Let your love flow through us and in us, inspiring us to create communities that seek the common good one day and one act at a time.
Embolden us to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with you from our first day to our last as we join our voices in the ancient prayer: Our Father…. Amen.
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