Prayers of the People/Intercession on Sanctification
God of grace, love, and hope: Your grace comes when we least expect and don’t deserve it. Your love comes when we can’t comprehend why but we need it the most. Your hope comes at just the right time to see us through. That’s why we praise you. That’s why we trust you.
We praise you for good endings–for graduations after years of work; for a job offer after endless leads, correspondence, phone calls and interviews for projects completed … for sales made …for goals met … for healings and full recoveries …for all of it:
We thank you and praise you! And we trust you for more. We trust you to heal those we love–those who need physical healing, those who need emotional, mental or spiritual healing …all of them. Restore them, Lord.
Make them whole and well: today we especially pray for… We trust You. We trust those we love to you–in this life and for the life to come; and we ask you to enfold with your love and give your hope to those who grieve the death of loved ones.
We trust Your sovereign mercy and power to act for a world in need of reconciliation: nation to nation, parents and children, husbands and wives, rich and poor, east and west. Lord, give us the peace we need, if not the peace we deserve. And for a world in need of justice and righteousness: do what is right for the oppressed and disenfranchised. We trust You.
We trust Your truth and grace in the church–we may not be everything we need to be or want to be …but we are Yours and day-by-day we’re becoming a little more like You as You work in us and through us. Make us a more hospitable people; a more loving people, a more hopeful, joyful, truthful and faithful people. This we pray–all of it and more–in the name of Jesus our Lord and Savior. AMEN
Gracious God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—You are ever the same in Your truth, love and grace, Yet, You always challenge us to grow, change, and become more like Jesus. We’re not yet what we want to be, what we hope to be, and what we will be–but thanks be to You, we are also no longer what we used to be.
Thank you for the hope of change—for without it, we would shrivel up and die. It’s that hope which calls us to pray for those who are sick or injured, those challenged physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually–and to ask You to heal them, to restore them, to make them whole.
It’s that hope which beckons to pray on behalf of those who mourn, whose grief is deep and real, whether that grief is new or long-lived–and to ask You to comfort them, to give them hope, and to walk with them day-by-day.
It’s that hope which dares us to pray for peace in a world dominated by war; for safe places and safe people on life’s way through a dangerous world; for food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, water for the thirsty, justice for the oppressed, companionship for the lonely, and Your love for all who are created in Your image for whom You died and rose.
It’s that hope which summons us to pray for our nation—raise up the leaders we need, enable us to aspire for more than slogans and rhetoric, and to embrace righteousness, truth, and justice for all. Give us wisdom and goodness in our living and love in all things.
It’s that hope of transformation that also invites us to pray for the church–Your church in all places and Your people in this place. Guide us in challenging times to live according to Your Word and to willingly risk being misunderstood in order to be faithful where You’ve placed us and with those entrusted to our care. Enable us to stay faithful in the midst of the tension that comes with being kingdom people called to transformation in a world that calls us to conformity. This we pray in Jesus’ name and to His glory. AMEN