Prayers 9 18 2011
*Welcome!
*Somalia OGHS Offering; thanks and you have another opportunity to give today
*2012 Proposed Budget posted for your review; Membership Meeting on Oct. 2nd
Prayer Concerns
*Pending no other delays, Fred Hee will be receiving a new kidney from his daughter, Cheryl Ng on Friday! This is both news of joy and hope accompanied by the concern for the transplant operation and recovery. We pray for success and a return to active and continuation of a fruitful life for Fred. And praise God for the love and sacrificial gift that Cheryl will be making for her father.
Prayer of God’s People
God of holiness and mystery, we come again to worship you and learn more of your ways. There is so much that we do not understand, and even, at times, things we do not feel comfortable with, such as your making the last first, and the first last. Open our hearts, Lord to those in our city and places we live who are invisible because we have not noticed their pain and struggles.
When it comes to others, we prefer justice, even while we hope for grace when we are in the wrong. Grant us the patience and willingness to forgive those who have trespassed against us so that we may be reconciled with all of your creation.
We thank you for your Son Jesus, who taught and lived your way. May we follow his example here in our congregation when we study the Bible in Sunday school and lived out his teachings in our daily lives throughout the whole week.
Help each of us to discover our gifts and use them on behalf of others. Lead us to serve on boards and committees when the Nominating Committee invite us to serve in the various places of sustaining and reaching out into the world through the ministries of this faithful church. We thank you for so many good things in our lives—our homes and family, our church and community, our nation and this beautiful world.
We pray for the sick and lonely; the friendless and the poor–for all those who need you and who will see you only in us as we reach out to them in love. Be with Fred Hee and Cheryl Ng this week and particularly on Friday when Cheryl will be able to donate one of her kidneys to improve and save the life of her father. Grant them courage and calm and bless the physicians and medical staff to accomplish this surgery with great success. Be with Carolyn and their entire family with your love and strength that in your providence, Lord, you want to see life and good health to enjoy and participate in your beautiful world. Be with…
And finally, O God, watch over the nations in the world as they seek ways for peace and cooperation. No longer are we insulated from others and protected from the vast oceans and friendly borders. Grant us the ability and commitment to work and strive for justice, recognition of each other’s needs, and the dream that one day there would be milk and honey for all of the people in God’s world.
All these things we pray in the name of Jesus the Christ who is the Prince of Peace, the Alpha and the Omega, the Rabbi who taught us to pray together, “Our Father…”
Benediction
God loves our neighbors before we do.
Go forth in joy. Love and serve one another. Be a faithful witness to God in the world and live in such a way that the gracious Spirit of Jesus may be with you in all that you do and say.
Amen.