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Covenant Network
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Prayers of the PeopleSE Regional Conference
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For your grace which comes fresh each morning, we give you thanks, O Lord. O God our Creator, we are in awe of your gorgeous imagination. You reveal yourself in the cycle of seasons, the nourishment of rain, the exuberance of tulips and the delicacy of cherry blossoms. You show your profligate creativity in the variety of the people you create and love. You show your astonishing love in the new life you bring out of death with our risen Lord. And we marvel at the mercy by which you, who set the galaxies whirling in the heavens, come nonetheless into our lives and care about our struggles, our uncertainties, as we try to follow you. Thank you for inviting our prayers. Christ our Redeemer, you shower us with blessings, but too often we do not live like your disciples. Forgive the hardness of heart that lets us turn away from those in need, in our communities, even on our very doorstep. Help us to see your face in all whom we meet, and make us active in deeds of mercy and justice. Forgive our discomfort with people who are different from us, so that we fail to welcome people who come seeking you. Forgive our self-righteous certainty that we alone understand your word and your will. Forgive us when we return evil for evil in our families, our communities, and in the church. Forgive our desire to win arguments rather than hearts, and to settle our differences by force instead of discernment.. Teach us, draw us to respond to our enemies not with our worst but with the best you give us. Our world shows too vividly the results of a determination to win by any means. We pray your protection for the many people who live in daily fear of deadly violence. Give to leaders wisdom, imagination, courage, and an understanding that true and lasting victory must include all parts of the body politic. Nourish, we pray, the fragile seeds of peace and hope for a new day in Israel and Palestine, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Surround with your merciful care our servicemen and -women, and the people they are trying to protect. And guide and bless, we pray, our own leaders. Fill them with wisdom and lead them in the ways of peace. Help them and us use our great power to accomplish your will, not our narrow interests. O God our Sustainer, we thank you for breathing your Spirit into the church and for calling each one of us into it. We thank you for the Presbyterian Church, within which we learn and serve and witness. Thank you for its historic mission and ministry. Make us energetic in supporting it. And thank you for the faithfulness of the gay and lesbian Presbyterians whose service to you, even when we did not want their gifts, is celebrated in the beautiful Stoles behind us. Renewing God, be with the members of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity & Purity of your church, we pray, as they continue their work on all our behalf. Guide their deliberations and continue to fill them with the love that can only come from you. Make our time together here both nourishing and fruitful, we pray. Open our hearts and minds to listen carefully to one another and to you. As we think about the challenges confronting our church, give us the confidence of knowing that it is your church, created and guided by your Spirit. Direct and use us, we pray, to help your church reflect your generosity, your justice, and your grace. Help us believe and remember what the Task Force has reminded us: You yourself are our peace. You yourself are our unity. You yourself are our purity. In our time together and especially as we return to our congregations and presbyteries, help us to live as your redeemed community, those convicted, claimed, and transformed by you. All this we are bold to pray, trusting in the risen Christ. Amen |
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The Covenant Network2515 Fillmore St - San Francisco - CA - 94115 |
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