Prayers 6 19 2011
*Welcome! Today is Trinity Sunday, Father’s Day and Dedication Day for the Gospel Choir
*OGHS Offering—Please be generous
*Next Sunday—Jason Kuo will be preaching while I’ll be at the ABC Biennial in San Juan
*Lanna Coffee for purchase, next Sunday, be prepared to get your coffee supply for the summer
*Seniors Retreat, October; Joel Jang and registration information
Prayer Concerns
*Tom Wong will have surgery on Monday, 2:00, Stanford to remove the growth on his pancreas and to begin cancer treatments
*Nico, nephew of Jeff and Linda Calmere, friends of Tommy Lim
Nico has started his transplant. He was admitted to the hospital on Monday and will be there for 2-3 months if everything goes well. All our energy is going toward family support. I am at the hospital right now and will spend the night tonight. He is getting full body radiation this week, heavy doses. He is doing well and has a lot of energy still. He is playing video games right now with his dad and is having a great time. That is always good to see. He gets chemo starting Saturday for 3 days to kill his bone marrow. He will then get the transplant on Wednesday next week. Thank you for the continuing prayers. Please pray that he does not have significant complications.
*Melvin Ang, my cousin, dealing with cancer and will be going to Santa Monica to receive chemotherapy for spots in his lung
*Shirlene Leong Nakano wants me to announce that…
Randy’s mother, Miyoshi Nakano, passed away peacefully on May 19, 2011 at the
age of 92. She lived a long and full life and was cherished by her family and
friends. The family is planning a memorial service on Saturday, September 17,
2011 at the Berkeley Buddhist Church at 11:00 a.m.
Prayer of God’s People
On this Father’s Day in our calendars, we turn to you, our Creator and nurturing Parent, who corralled chaos and called the universe as we know it into being from nothing. You who are self-reliant, self-sufficient, yet willing to take a risk and in calling us into being give us free will to love you, obey you, reject you, turn away from you, always ready for the return of the prodigal, ever mindful of those who are always faithful, who knows us best and pronounces us good, we give you thanks and praise.
We pray, earnestly, God of faith, hope, and love that you will watch over Tom Wong who will be in surgery tomorrow. Grant him strength and trust that you will guide the hands of the medical staff to bring health and wholeness to Tom again. We lift up young Nico who will face a long struggle for a marrow transplant and to eliminate leukemia from his body. Bless his parents and the larger Christian community to pray for a new day. We pray for my cousin, Melvin Ang who has been in chemotherapy for some time and will continue with a new treatment in Santa Monica. Grant him an optimistic outlook that brings trust and confidence of being cancer-free soon. And as one life comes to a peaceful conclusion, we believe, Lord that new life is happening again. Thank you for the blessed life of Miyoshi Nakano who nurtured her children well and lived a good life.
While we are more aware of the things close by, we are called to be in prayer for those things that are also at a distance. Through our sacrificial giving to the OGHS, we dedicate our gifts to relieve human suffering whenever disasters strike. We continue to pray for the Asian ABC churches, 21st Avenue and Sunset Ministry that have been put at risk because the GHC region believe that their mission is more important. We pray that our stand on this matter will lead to an amicable solution. We pray for the upcoming ABC Biennial in Puerto Rico that our choir along with hundreds of other American Baptists will travel safely to worship in Christ’s name, to fellowship with brothers and sisters, and to conduct important business facing our denominational family. And finally, we also pray for those persons who are prayerfully reviewing our new pastoral position that they according to your will and calling, may apply to serve faithfully at FCBC.
To you, who we know as our Father, who gave birth to us as our mother, who has adopted us all into one heavenly family, we thank you for the fathers in our community and pray that they continue to provide wisdom to the young, strength to the weak, compassion to the weary, humble leadership in the family, and faithfulness in Christ in their words and deeds so that all may witness that Christ is in their hearts. In this and in all things we pray in Christ’s name who taught us to pray together, “Our Father…”
Benediction
Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”
Go into the world, praying, praising, and proclaiming, unceasingly and always.
Amen.