Prayers of the People/Intercession on Resurrection
Lord of Hope and God of all that’s new—Father, Son and Holy Spirit: We’re filled with wonder, gratitude, and joy inspired by the gifts of new life You freely give us. There’s the joy and wonder of every new day, that calls to mind Your resurrection with each rising sun. There’s the joy and wonder of the new beginnings that come with marriage.
There’s the joy and wonder of the living miracle of birth. And we’re moved by the wonder and joy of mature love seen in decades of marriage—the kind of love that echoes Your ever-faithful love for us: so we thank You for your steadfast love and faithfulness.
We pray for newly married couples and for every married couple here, that you provide grace—for hard times that will come; mutual forgiveness, understanding, patience, and the willingness to change ourselves and not our partners as we grow and mature in our love. We pray for all of us who are parents and grandparents, new and old, asking for you to give us patience with ourselves as well as our children; and wisdom to know when to speak and what to say, as well as to know when not to speak but just listen.
Sovereign Lord: we pray for our world, Your world—that peace would displace war, health replace sickness, contentment replace hunger and thirst, understanding replace suspicion, compassion replace apathy, hope replace despair, and that Your Good News would be heard, known, and understood in every community, bringing hope and salvation in Jesus Christ.
For Your church—pressed on every side to conform to the pattern of this world rather than the shape of Your Kingdom, and to abandon Your Word’s clear teaching rather than stay faithful to the Truth: we pray that Your Spirit’s power would strengthen us for living the Gospel, equip us to declare the Good News, unite us to demonstrate the Truth and enable us, as Your followers, to be more like You, Jesus, since we are your Body on earth. These are our prayers, offered in the name of Jesus our Lord. AMEN
Father God: You know our thoughts, before we speak them. You know our needs, without us saying them. So, You invite us into Your presence, with arms wide open, not to hear our laundry lists of wants and needs. You want us to know You, to love You and to be with You. Forgive us for treating You more like a heavenly vending machine and less like our Heavenly Father who loves us.
We want to know You more–for who You are. We want to be more like You–as Your children. We want to follow You wherever You want to take us, for You know what’s good, right and best for us. Today, we give You all our worries and anxieties, which come from bearing burdens we’re never meant to carry; for You are God and we’re not.
We acknowledge only You can handle them; and we cannot. You’re the healer–and so we place loved ones and friends in Your healing hands. Do for them what only You can do–heal them. Restore bodies to health and wholeness. Calm troubled minds. Break chains of addiction. Overcome disease, and repair injury and wounds.
We pray today especially for…You’re the Resurrection and the Life–giving hope, peace and comfort to those who mourn loved ones. You’re Lord of the Church–so we thank you for blessings we’ve known as a congregation …the joy of mission, the wonder of learning new things from Your Word, the encouragement of friends who stand with us in tough times, the support of brothers and sisters.
May we be faithful in living and declaring your good News in our community, our nation and to the ends of the earth. Empower and protect those who are our voices, our hands and our feet in mission–on the West bank in Israel, on the US-Mexican border. This, and more, we pray in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Risen Lord, Loving Father…and Ever-Present Spirit: Thank You for reaching into our doubts, giving us the faith we lack. Thank You for Your gracious condescension reaching from the glories of heaven into the everyday routines of our lives where things distract us in daytime and keep us awake at night.
Knowing You care: We offer prayers of thanks and rejoicing for new marriages, for births, for the beginnings of new pastoral ministries, for good news of college acceptances and job offers, for provision that came at just the right time and for a phone call or visit from a friend just when we needed it. Thank You, Lord.
Knowing You care: We pray for the injured or sick, hospitalized or homebound, who need Your healing touch. Lift them in body, soul and spirit. Restore them. Give them strength and hope in You.
Knowing You care: We pray for those touched by grief and shaken to the core by loss–the loss of a loved one or friend, loss of a job, the loss of hope or of health, the loss of a relationship in disagreement or misunderstanding. Comfort those who mourn. Give each one Your peace. Open a path in the wilderness. If it be your will, restore now what was lost that the latter times may be even greater than the former; or restore it in heaven forever.
Knowing You care: We pray for the world. Where there’s war–bring peace, not just cease-fire but new relationships of well-being and understanding. Where there’s poverty–give hope & provide a way out. Where there’s hunger–provide food, and sustain it. Where nations flounder–raise up godly and capable leaders; and so we pray for our own leaders, may they know Your ways and courageously lead us in them. And where there’s no witness of the gospel of Jesus–send a light, raise up a witness, and bring missionary ambassadors of Your kingdom. All this we pray in your name, Jesus. Amen.
Father: You shape and form us so each is unique yet all are in Your image, when You breathe into us the breath of life. We praise You! Jesus, God the Son–Resurrection and Life: You chose to die and rise from the dead to free us from sin and death, and give us eternal life.
We praise You! Living Spirit, who sustains our life by Your presence: You give us strength, when we are weak; direction, when we are lost; and love at all times. We praise You! We praise you for hope that’s ours because of Jesus’ resurrection: Hope to face life with courage and meet death in peace; Hope to sustain us in dark times, for we know our life’s light comes with the rising Son.
Therefore, we can pray with expectant hope …For those who need healing in spirit, soul, mind and body; For those who need comfort in grief and guidance when confused; For those who celebrate new life, but who also face the call to parent; For those who are without necessities of life; For those who have no gospel witness in their own tongue and culture. This we pray, in the name that is above every naGod–Father, Son and Holy Spirit: We praise you at the opening of this day of days! me–even the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN
Risen and present Lord: There’s no place we go–near or far, high or low, familiar or strange–where you aren’t there with and even before us. There is no experience we have or feeling we feel that’s unknown to you or outside the boundary of Your care for us. You meet us in our moments of doubt. You are near us in our moments of fear.
You are with us in celebration and in grief. You are not shocked by our sin, and you are not disheartened by our failures. Therefore, we know there’s nothing we can’t take to You. Today, we stand with our friends in Christian faith who mourn.
Comfort them, Lord. Guide them, and enable them to trust You to care for the continuing life of Your church. For those who suffer from natural disasters. Protect them, meet their need for the basics of life, and enable Your people to show Your love in deed and in word. In our own land: we ask Your grace, mercy and truth to lead us all:
From the White House, the halls of congress and the judiciary, to the state capitals, county seats and town halls. May we know Your ways … and walk in them. May we treat one another with grace while upholding Your truth. For those who grieve, may they know your peace, the hope of Your resurrection and Your presence.
For those ill or injured in body and in soul: may your healing grace come to speed recovery, to protect fragile emotions, to encourage hearts and to lift discouraged spirits. For families struggling with strained or broken relationships, for marriages pulled to the breaking point, for siblings who are cut off from one another, and friends who are estranged:
we ask your miracles of reconciliation–not to the way things were, because obviously that wasn’t good enough, but into a new relationship with You at the center. May they be given grace to ask for and give forgiveness, humility to say “I’m sorry” and the strength for genuine repentance and change… Knowing you care, Jesus, we pray all this, in Your name. AMEN
The Lord calls us to examine the wounds of the Risen One and to see there the depth of his love for us. Let us therefore approach the throne of God in confidence as we pray for the people of God in Christ Jesus, and for all people according to their needs.
O LORD our Lord–how majestic is Your name in all the earth. Jesus: as You entered a locked room to show Your disciples the beginning of a new world, so enter our hearts and move us to faith in You, the Risen One.
Convince us of the reality and significance of the resurrection, and free us from all that binds us and tries to hold us captive—our fears and our addictions; our past and our pain; what we remember and what we’ve forgotten.
Lord: make us courageous in the face of death, and show us how to enter a new resurrected life as Your followers.
Be with Your church throughout the world. In Your mercy, don’t abandon us to our own devices. Instead, empower the preaching of Your Word and enable in us acts of love as they testify to the resurrection.
Wherever Your church is faithless and lacking courage—come, Lord Jesus. Come. Come. Revive, restore and refresh us with Your Spirit. Pour out Your Spirit on pastors and teachers, enabling each and all to listen well to Your voice, and then speak Your truth with the authority of Christ.
Wherever nations are at war and people are divided, visit and bring true reconciliation. Especially protect all Christian people in these nations, and help them to inspire their fellow-citizens to live and work for the good of all. Give national leaders godly wisdom and righteous hearts as they lead in the right paths.
Where homes are disrupted by anger and bitterness, where relationships are distorted and dulled: Come, Lord Jesus. Bring peace and harmony. Enable understanding and love.
Wherever young people gather in your name, visit and guide them with your holy word and wisdom; and care for little ones, the children—that they may know Your love.
Jesus—our Great Physician and Healer: Comfort and heal the sick and suffering. Restore and strengthen weak bodies, as well as anxious and troubled minds. Support all with your great love and mercy, and give special strength to caregivers; Draw near to mend broken and sick bodies, minds and spirits.
As our Risen and Reigning Lord–Jesus, please comfort those who mourn today, whether their grief is fresh or lingering. We especially pray for peace and consolation for the families and friends who have recently suffered loss. And we pray that You will bring each who has died to the place You have prepared for them. These prayers and those still unspoken we overthrow the name of the Risen One, even our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. AMEN