Prayers of the People

Prayers of the People2021-05-01T07:12:46-05:00

At Kenilworth Union Church the Pastoral Prayer’s title is *Prayers of the People and is authored and delivered by the liturgist every Sunday at divine worship. The prayer contains thanksgivings, supplications, and intersessions that are current spiritual needs of the church, the community, the nation, and globally. This popular prayer is posted weekly to pray sincerely in hopes to offer comfort to the people being prayed for as well as the person praying.

Prayers of the People May 21, 2023

Squire Prince Dear God, loving father, and comforting mother, we come to say thank you God, for this amazing day, thank you God for work and play, thank you God for the sun and birds, we thank you for trees and for water, we thank you for all things. Lord we bring both those things, that we are rejoicing over, and those things that hover over our hearts in sadness. How wonderful [...]

Prayers of the People May 14, 2023

The Reverend Dr. William A. Evertsberg Gracious and Loving God—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:Fall fast across our assembly this morning as Living, Life-Giving Spirit. Come to each of us even as you have come to these 38 young people who have committed themselves this morning to a lifetime of discipleship. We give you thanks that in their young lives there has never been a day when your Spirit has not been working, sometimes [...]

Prayers of the People May 7, 2023

The Reverend Christine V. Hides Holy God, Gracious Spirit, We approach you with hearts awakened by the spring flourishing. New life emerges from the much-maligned Midwest weather: Trillium, scented lilacs, and crabapples bursting with bloom, While overhead a great avian migration, Brings the first hummingbirds, and sandhill cranes to trumpet the news. Daily you bring us delight upon delight. Let these divine delights shape our days, soften our hardened edges, And form [...]

Prayers of the People April 30, 2023

The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster Come, great Spirit hear us pray. The grey sky and rain, the blue sky and crisp air, a reminder that just beyond the ordinary is an unfolding miracle: the crabapple, redbud, and magnolia tree taking sun and rain to “blossom on the threshold of abundance” (Denise Levertov). We hardly stop to notice. Slow us down, O Divine Abundance. Open our eyes, O Love Made Known. The [...]

Prayers of the People April 23, 2023

The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster I carry now ten thousand prayers to your throne of grace: a thank you for the wide “flock of colours” (John O’Donohue) that folded night into day, a thank you for this staggering stretch of life received as gift, a thank you that on this day, we awaken to this absurd beauty, a thank you for the plenty and peace I find again when I stop whatever [...]

Prayers of the People April 16, 2023

Squire Prince Loving and Divine Creator, We come with thanksgiving together in fellowship for your glorious presence and blessings. Lord, you reign your light and warmth into every place of our lives, bringing beauty from ashes, and glory from suffering. Today we celebrate our youth, and how you have equipped them with the necessary tools and wisdom to carry out your commission. You have equipped them with all of who you are, [...]

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Packing for the Journey

May 21, 2023

I believe that the Sunday School teachers who came up with the Kenilworth Union Church Third Grade Bible lessons 90 years ago also thought of life as a journey. They wanted third graders to be prepared for the trip of a lifetime with God. So they made a scripture packing list so that children in this church would know that God was with them wherever they went and so they would be able to remember God is present in every situation. For generations third graders have learned "The Ten Commandments", "The 23rd Psalm", "The Beatitudes", "The Lord’s Prayer" and "Jesus’ Greatest Commandment". The 1950’s version of the packing list also included Psalms 19 and 100.

The Valley of Lost Things, IV: The Party I Refused to Attend

May 14, 2023

A lost coin, found. A lost sheep, found. A lost son, found. After each lost thing found, a party. Luke chapter fifteen is simple enough, but it might hold everything we need to know about God. When we are lost, God goes after us. When we are lost, God seeks us until we are found. But here’s today’s question: will the older brother go to the party? Can he bear to celebrate? Jesus spins these fabulous little tales and we’re still thinking of them two thousand years later. We see ourselves in the younger brother. We see ourselves in the older brother. We even see ourselves in the father, watching his sons hurt and be hurt by each other and the world. We know this story is telling us something about ourselves. We intuitively know that we fit within this story. And two thousand years later, this story is still about us, getting lost, and God running out to greet us.

The Valley of Lost Things, III: Lost and Found

May 7, 2023

Have you noticed that Shakespeare based his magnum opus, King Lear, on the same initial plot device as Jesus’ little parable? Foolishly, a man divides his inheritance to his heirs prematurely, while he is still alive. A man had two sons. A man had three daughters. All our stories begin this way, or most of them, because this is what is most precious to us, and most distressing.

Prayers of the People

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