Prayers of the People/Intercession on Stewardship
Jesus: You gave us Your love at a high price – Your own death on the cross in our place! By Your grace you give us eternal life and entrust to us Your creation.
Thank You, Lord!
We come today as Your stewards, called to care for Your creation. Frankly, we’ve not done a very good job. You give us voices to speak for You: We speak of ourselves more than of You. You give us ears to listen to the hearts of others: We listen for what affirms our heart’s wishes.
You give us hands to reach out in Your name: We use them to grab stuff, and write on it our name. You give us feet to go to others with Your Good News:
We use them to run for cover or to chase worldly pleasure. We’ve not done well – but we want to do differently! We want to please You in how we use Your treasures. Help us, we pray!
Help us to be agents of peace in a war torn world. So we pray for peace. We pray for national and international leaders who need Your wisdom and courage to do what’s good, just and right. We pray this, especially, for our president and vice-president, for representatives and senators, judges and justices.
Help us, we pray, to be ambassadors of your grace and truth wherever we go: in our homes, our schools, and our places of employment; in our families and in our friendships. Restore broken marriages and rebuild shattered families. Release spirits bound by depression and hopelessness. Free us that we may work with you to free others, and point them to You. And help us to be wounded healers, praying today for loved ones who are ill or injured; Help us to comfort the grieving. Give them hope, peace, and a quiet rest in You. Finally, Jesus – enable, equip and encourage us all
to be Your missionaries in the spheres of influence where You place us. And empower, encourage, protect and provide for those who serve you in mission anywhere in the world. Hear all our prayers as we pray them in your Name — AMEN.
Loving God ~ Father, Son and Holy Spirit: We are a people who are waiting: waiting to celebrate Messiah’s birth; waiting to see what this day–and every day–holds as Your blessings for us; and waiting to see whom we can bless with Your love or from whom we may receive a blessing. And we are waiting for Messiah’s return to clean up the mess.
Now, in the meantime, we come to you with our needs and our worries, our hopes and our dreams, because You have invited us to come saying,“Come unto me, all you who labor and are overburdened.”So in prayer, we come.
We come praying for the church throughout the world … for Palestinian Christians in the town where you were born; for Haitian believers who continue to reach out to those of their countrymen in the midst of civil unrest; and especially for all who bear your name in places where it is dangerous to do so.
Sustain and strengthen them in grace.We come, as well, with prayers for the church in this country … and for this congregation: for its leaders—elders and deacons, and for all who serve in various ministries. We pray that we may all benefit from the various gifts offered in service of Christ; that in faith and unity we may be constantly renewed by your Holy Spirit into acts of mission, mercy and love.
We come praying, too, for peace in our world, and for an end to violence. May there be peace in our homes and in our hearts so that we may live and work together in harmony and with genuine concern for one another. Remind us all that we share your world with others, many who are less fortunate than we are; and enable us to be faithful stewards of both the resources and the gospel which You have entrusted to us.
In addition, we come with prayers for our families, friends and neighbors, that we may serve Christ to one another and love one another as he loves us. Help us to make our homes patterns of your love, places of mutual trust and forgiveness, places of true sharing and caring, of deep joy and peace; and unite us all, one to another in the circle of your love.
We also come with our prayers for all those who suffer from any form of illness. We pray for those who are anxious, sorrowful, or in any kind of need or distress; especially for loved ones and friends who are ill or injured, anticipating or recovering from surgery or who are in any kind of need … praying especially for…[fill in those who need specific prayers]
We also remember in the quietness of our hearts others dear to us. [Pause] We know that you love them and know their every need far better than we do. We ask that you do for them as you see best and bless them with your love and peace. We come with thanks to you for those who’ve died trusting in Christ; and we thank you for allowing us to share life with them. We pray for all those who mourn: grant them the comfort of your presence and the hope of the resurrection. Merciful God–as we wait … hear these, our prayers for the sake of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Prayer for the Right Use of God’s Gifts
Almighty God, whose loving hand hath given us all that we possess: Grant us grace that we may honor thee with our substance, and, remembering the account which we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of thy bounty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church (1979)