Prayers of the People/Intercession on Surprise
Living and present Lord: You often surprise us, coming when we least expect it; or, You simply fold back the curtain to show us You’ve been there all along to give us hope and to open our eyes to see You, and Your world, in new ways.
You walk where we walk. You feel what we feel. Although You love as we are,You love us too much to leave us that way. Thank You! That’s why we dare come to You with all that keeps us awake at night or causes our minds to race.
We pray for those who suffer due to illness or injury, for those facing hospitalization or surgery, for those recovering and recuperating at home. Heal them, Lord. Mend broken bodies, and broken souls.
Uphold them in Your peace and restore them with Your saving power. For those who mourn, we ask for Your comfort. Lift downcast eyes and heavy spirits; lighten hearts weighed down and feeling lonely. Mourn with those who mourn, Jesus; and come alongside them to reveal the hope of Your resurrection and the peace of Your presence.
We thank you for births and for new life this week–reminding us that when we lose hope for our world, You hold a great and wonderful future for us in Your grace. We pray for parents and grandparents, for step-parents and especially for single parents: that they have the necessary strength, patience, wisdom and love to shape lives entrusted to their care according to Your image and truth.
And we pray for children to value those you give them as mentors, guides, and protectors. For our nation: we ask Your truth to guide us in the way we should go, Your forgiveness for when we’ve strayed, Your courage to do what is right, and Your strength to persevere in it. Forgive our nation’s self-pride, racism, immorality and materialism.
Strengthen our resolve to reflect the true values of Your kingdom in who we are and what we do; and the resolve of our national leaders who lead the way. And for your church: make us a colony of heaven on earth, we pray that we might point women and men, strong and weak, old and young, well-off and not so well-off… all people to You.
May we, as Your church, bring You honor and not shame in our nation and world in what we do and by what we say. All this, and more, we pray in the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. AMEN
God—our Father … our Savior … our Counselor and Friend: Thank you for daring to meet us at the most unlikely places, and in the most unexpected times of our lives. Thank you for redeeming our painful experiences, for walking beside us in the dark times and even mysteriously redirecting our own miscues, misunderstandings, and sins to your glory and our good.
There’s no one like you! You are our Healer–whose word restores and whose touch can make everything and everyone new again. We pray today for you to bring health and wholeness to those who are injured or ill—especially for… You are our Comforter, Resurrection and Life–who wept for dead Lazarus, who brought a little girl and a widow’s son back from death, and who died and rose again yourself: we ask your comfort for those who mourn and your welcome to all who die in You.
For our community and nation–we pray You give our elected leaders wisdom, humility, courage, compassion, creativity and commitment. We also pray for a world anxious and afraid, a world where terror threatens, where famine, poverty and disease claim lives each day if not each hour, and where those who have too much hold resources with grasping fists and those who have too little are left empty-handed; and for those threatened by diseases, or recovering from natural disasters.
We ask for your help, your deliverance and your provision. Keep us all from living out of our fears, hatreds and worries—and enable us to live out of Your compassion, love and justice …and so know Your kingdom come, and Your will done in our midst. We ask this in Jesus’ name. AMEN
Living and present Lord: You often surprise us, coming when we least expect it; or, You simply fold back the curtain to show us You’ve been there all along to give us hope and to open our eyes to see You, and Your world, in new ways.
You walk where we walk. You feel what we feel. Although You love as we are,You love us too much to leave us that way. Thank You! That’s why we dare come to You with all that keeps us awake at night or causes our minds to race.
We pray for those who suffer due to illness or injury, for those facing hospitalization or surgery, for those recovering and recuperating at home. Heal them, Lord. Mend broken bodies, and broken souls.
Uphold them in Your peace and restore them with Your saving power. For those who mourn, we ask for Your comfort. Lift downcast eyes and heavy spirits; lighten hearts weighed down and feeling lonely. Mourn with those who mourn, Jesus; and come alongside them to reveal the hope of Your resurrection and the peace of Your presence.
We thank you for births and for new life this week–reminding us that when we lose hope for our world, You hold a great and wonderful future for us in Your grace. We pray for parents and grandparents, for step-parents and especially for single parents: that they have the necessary strength, patience, wisdom and love to shape lives entrusted to their care according to Your image and truth.
And we pray for children to value those you give them as mentors, guides, and protectors. For our nation: we ask Your truth to guide us in the way we should go, Your forgiveness for when we’ve strayed, Your courage to do what is right, and Your strength to persevere in it. Forgive our nation’s self-pride, racism, immorality and materialism.
Strengthen our resolve to reflect the true values of Your kingdom in who we are and what we do; and the resolve of our national leaders who lead the way. And for your church: make us a colony of heaven on earth, we pray that we might point women and men, strong and weak, old and young, well-off and not so well-off… all people to You.
May we, as Your church, bring You honor and not shame in our nation and world in what we do and by what we say. All this, and more, we pray in the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. AMEN
Father, Son, Holy Spirit–our God, Mysterious, Awe-Inspiring, Wonderful, One-in-Three/Three-in-One: You surprise us not with flashing lights, loud crashing noises, and constant activity. You surprise us in stillness and silence, in quiet and peace. Forgive us for equating motion, volume and activity with significance, truth and what really counts. In stillness we come now with our burdens and our worries, with our commitments and our dreams, with our hopes and fears–knowing you alone can do something with them.
You are good and you are strong, you are compassionate and you are sovereign in all things, so we trust you. We trust those whose bodies are ill or injured, and whose minds and emotions are confused or disrupted: please heal them.
Restore them to health and wholeness; and strengthen caregivers who support, help and encourage them. We also entrust to you those who mourn. For those whose losses are most acute at this time of year–the loss of a loved one, the loss of a marriage, the loss of a job, the loss of a friendship, the loss of a future dream, the loss of hope … all of it: please, Jesus … Lord, come.
Be born in hearts that feel empty, to fill them with the peace that passes all understanding, and to satisfy them with faith, hope and love. We trust our nation and world to you as it seems somewhere to convulse every day with our suspicions, hatreds and wars, or is held in bondage by our addictions, compulsions and desires.
Savior, come and save us from ourselves with your grace and truth as declared in the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. Direct national leaders. Protect soldiers and civilians in places where wars rage. End drought and famine. Halt poverty and disease. And may your will be done–on earth as it is in heaven. We also trust you with the church that bears your name.
Teach us your truth—and enable us to do it. And when we fail to live it–correct us, so the light which shines through us is pure and genuine, a clear light reflecting your goodness and truth. Make us strong when we need to be strong for your kingdom of grace and truth, holiness and love. Make us forgiving as we are forgiven. This we pray in the name that is above every name–Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN