Prayers of the People/Intercession on Baptism
Gracious God–Giver of all good gifts: We praise You. You give us the wonder of creation and You give us life. We praise You, Father. You give us forgiveness of our sins with salvation and eternal life. We praise You, Jesus–God the Son. You give us Your own living presence with gifts of power for life and spiritual gifts for service. We praise You, Spirit of the Living God. We celebrate the gifts of our children, Your expression of hope for our future. We celebrate the gifts of families, into which you place us; and the gift of Your family, the church. We celebrate new life and we celebrate new families begun in marriages. We celebrate your covenant faithfulness witnessed in baptism.
Time and time again, You’re faithful to us; which is why we thank you and praise you. It’s why we trust You with what weighs heavily on our hearts.We pray for those who need your protection and healing.
For all the hospitalized, ill, injured and recuperating–strengthen their bodies, encourage their souls, restore their health physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. We pray for all who mourn–for our friends and loved ones. We pray Your peace and comfort for them. Restore their hope and bring Your people alongside them to give a helping hand and a supporting shoulder.
We pray also for our world so filled with suspicion, hatred, isolation, envy, greed, and fear. Bring peace out of war. Replace prejudice with understanding, hunger with food, thirst with water, homelessness with shelter, rejection with acceptance and compassion. Give national leaders wisdom–enable them to be just and compassionate, courageous and honest.
May your kingdom come … soon. For the church–we pray. Make your people daring, faithful, and true; and enable us to love, really love–each other, our neighbors and the world so that all may know Your gospel is true because they can see Your gospel in action. Encourage our missionary friends, serving You in distant places and different cultures. All this, and more, we pray to Your glory. AMEN
God–Father, Son and Holy Spirit–You know what it’s like to be many and one at the same time. In You, we too are many … yet one. You’ve made us one body—a single family unified for one purpose; with one baptism—giving us a single identity. You’ve given us one Spirit—Your Spirit; and one hope—in the same future. And, with one faith we trust You for our salvation, our one Lord, Jesus Christ.
So together, with one voice and a single heart, we hold varied anxieties and hope, concerns and commitments, and give them to You. For those we love who are ill or injured, anticipating surgery or recovering from it–we pray healing of body, peace of mind and trust in You.
For families who gather this week–we ask safety in travel, joy in shared times; and where reconciliation is needed to bring a marriage and family together, we ask You to give grace, humility, forgiveness and growth in love and trust. For those who can’t be together this week–we ask peace.
May Your grace give reason for thanks in shared memories. For our nation–so blessed by You over the years, we offer thanks: for freedom, for abundance of resources, for the ability to worship You unafraid. Yet, we’ve also grown proud of our power, our wealth and our technologies. Forgive us for turning to other gods to lead and protect us; and for when we’ve trusted ourselves too much and You too little.
For our world, so splintered by national interest and suspicion, by prejudice and hatred: we pray for understanding and empathy, justice and compassion between peoples. Strengthen Your missionaries, keep them faithful in serving You as they declare and live Your gospel as lights throughout a dark world. For Your Church, for this church–we thank You. Thank You for Your people who love us as we are, who care for us when we hurt, who lift us up when we fall, who are there when we are in need. Thank You for a church that’s faithful to proclaim and demonstrate Your truth with grace and compassion. Thank You for ministries that quietly change lives, for leaders who faithfully serve and for all who sacrificially give of themselves. So, with thanksgiving in our hearts, we pray all this, in Jesus’ Name. AMEN
Prayer for the Unity of the Church
O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
The Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church (1979)