Worship

Prayers of the People

We invite you to pray with us this week.

Holy One, we lift our hearts to you this day, filled with the expectation of your presence. We walk the path of this holy Lenten wilderness with you, seeking your ways of compassion and courage. 

We call on you in gratitude, giving thanks for what is, and asking, with faithful audacity to receive what it is we need. Peace in body, mind and nation. Healing in our broken places. Generosity towards our neighbors and ourselves. Justice and mercy for all in your kingdom. 

And so we pray to you, Healer of our every ill. Asking yet again that you be with those in our midst who are facing hard diagnoses or healing through addiction. Be with those who are doing the faithful work of mending in relationships, or within themselves. Just as your scripture teaches us, help us to seek you, in faith. Help us to be healed in the pursuit of you. 

Oh great comforter, hold in your embrace those of us whose hearts are weary today. Weary with hard news, weary with witnessing the violence of these days, weary as your planet groans, weary with the fears we hold. You tell us not to let our hearts be troubled. You say do not be afraid. And yet we forget, overwhelmed as we are. So we ask you, God, to help us to strengthen our hearts. Help us to push for peace in your world. Strengthen our elected leaders so that they may make just and bold decisions on the way to peace and living justice for all your creation. 

And strengthen those who have answered your call to lead in this community, as we prepare to elect new officers in this, your church. 

Gifting god, who teaches us to love with abundance, gift in us generous hearts. So may we give of our love and our time and our talent and treasure without counting the cost. Help us to do so in the service of your kin-dom on earth. 

We ask all these things in the name of your son, who taught us to pray, saying together: 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

The Rev. Natalie Owens-Pike, Director of Ministry to the Online Campus, offered these prayers of the people on Sunday, March 17, 2024.