Prayers of the People/Intercession on Salt
Lord: In our times of weakness and our hours of need, Yours is the strength that enables us to carry on, Yours the shoulder we rest our heads upon. When our load is heavy and too much to bear,Yours are the arms that stretch out to help us and the grace that we depend on. When we’re weak and in need, Yours is the voice we hear saying: ‘Come to Me, and find rest for your weary soul.’
So, we come to you today in prayer. Please Lord—heal those we love who are sick; strengthen those who are recuperating, encourage those who care for our loved ones, and may all know that You are the Healer and Great Physician. We especially pray for____________.
Please Lord—comfort all who mourn with the peace of Your presence, that peace which passes all our understanding as it keeps our hearts and minds in love.
We especially pray for the families of _______. Please Lord—in a world gone crazy with hatred and suspicion, replace anger with reconciliation and hatred with understanding. Enable us to live as agents of Your Kingdom in our nation and neighborhoods; and for those serving as missionaries in dark places and dark times—give them courage to let the light of Your gospel shine in and through them with clarity and power…we think especially of those in _______.
Please Lord—guide us as a nation so that we can live up to the best of who we are and who we aspire to be. Allow us to look beyond ourselves to see the needs of the neighbor, the stranger, and the needy. Please Lord—Empower us as Your church to be different, to be the Salt of the Earth and to be the Light of the World. Give us the heart of our Savior, the mind of the Holy Spirit, and the creativity of our Father that we might be an outpost of Your Kingdom And a colony of heaven on earth. And bless Your Word as it is taught today—please, Lord. May Your Thoughts Be faithfully spoken, heard, understood, believed and lived; so that in all things we might be more like Jesus…
God of the heavens and the earth, Giver of sun and showers, wind and calm:
We praise You for Your grace and power, Your beauty, grace and care. You sustain us daily, and encourage us constantly. Thank You that there’s no season of life when You’re not present with us: You’re there at our birth. You celebrate passages through baptism and commissioning, graduations, weddings, retirements and funerals.
We lean on you when we’re weak, weep with You when we’re heartbroken, and laugh with You when we’re joyful. All life is lived and experienced in Your presence. You care about each moment we live and each anxiety we feel. So, we can ask You, in Your grace, to…Heal those who are sick, injured and recuperating–heal hurt bodies, wounded souls and discouraged spirits.
Comfort the mourning, as they feel the loss of being separated from loved ones or any other loss. Find the lost–those whose relationships are so broken that they’re estranged and distant, those who’ve wandered far from Your love and separate from Your Church–and bring them home … all of the lost.
Protect the innocent: the children, the unborn, the poor, the abandoned and the abused. Surround them with Your love and open the doors of Your kingdom and of Your church to them. Guide our nation’s leaders–giving wisdom, courage and grace to our president, vice-president, congressmen and senators.
Restore the soul of our land, humble our boastful pride, cleanse our sullied character and make us righteous, conformed to Your character and will. And we pray for Your church. Thwart personal and political agendas, and advance the cause of Your gospel. Make the church to be a light on a hill, a lamp shining in the darkness and salt, flavoring and preserving a community and a nation with Your truth, love and life. This we pray, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Great God our Father, Savior and Holy Spirit: Our hearts are filled with gratitude for your grace and faithfulness. Thank you for caring about those who we care about–for those who are sick or injured, recovering or anticipating surgery: heal them, Lord, to their joy and your glory; and for those who grieve: comfort them with your presence and the hope of eternal life in Christ.
Thank you for caring about our world that is really your world–a world bent on rejecting You by turning instead to violence, power, wealth, pleasure, and self-interest to try and find meaning, hope and peace.
May your people truly be salt which flavors and preserves a tasteless, decaying world with the truth of the gospel lived and proclaimed. Thank you for caring about your church–not perfect, but yours nonetheless. Help us to see what you see in our families, our community, region, nation and world. May our hearts break over what breaks your heart.
May we laugh when you laugh and weep when you weep. Give us vision, and with it, the wisdom to understand your mission and the energy to faithfully carry it out, now and always. And thank you for your word of life–which we long for; and your table which spiritually sustains and encourages us as your family, called by your name: Christians.
This is our prayer–offered in Jesus name. AMEN