Prayers 11 14 2010
*Welcome
*Thanks to those who helped clean up our church home yesterday
*For the month of November, we are receiving the MMBB Retired Ministers and Missionaries Love Offering to express our gratitude to those who served in the past
*2011 Pledges are welcomed! We have today and 3 more Sundays to receive pledges before we consider the 2011 Proposed Budget for adoption; It is never how much you give but the fact that you give that matters!
*Next Sunday is Thanksgiving & Seniors Appreciation Luncheon; purchase your tickets today
*Next Sunday, we’ll welcome Rev. Jim Lundgren, Director of Seafarers Ministry in Oakland to bring the messages; Rev. Lundgren is retiring from ministry at the end of this year.
*Welcome Pastor Peter to preach today as an opportunity for you to hear him today; on Nov. 28th, I will be preaching at the 11:30 service
*Inside Out Art event welcomes submissions due today for an event on Jan. 15th
*Last Sunday, we emphasize the opportunity to make a planned gift for the life and ministry of our church—Joel Jang will share a few words about this.
*Two Sundays from today is our annual Christmas Workshop when we will also feature Lanna Coffee tasting and sales for the holidays; this year, we also have some Hill Tribes gifts to sell—Shirlene Leong Nakano will share a few words about this.
Prayer Concerns
*Doris Yim is greatly ill; suffering from breast cancer
*ABC General Board meetings this week in Valley Forge; pray for my safe travels
Prayer of God’s People
Holy God, let your new creation live in our midst. In our singing, in our prayer, in our worship, may we experience the joy which all the earth will know when your will is perfectly known, and when you are revealed in your glory.
We thank you, Lord for this season of change and transitions that enables us to move from one stage of life to yet another. As we come closer to the end of this year, we look forward to what tomorrow may bring in the New Year. Challenge us to give sacrificially in support of the work that our church does in the world through our 2011 pledges. As we give you thanks for the abundance and blessings that we have received as we will soon gather around our tables of thanksgiving, we also are mindful of those who are in need and how we might be able to assist them to receive your mercy. And as the days are shorter and the nights are longer, we look forward to lighting the symbols of candles representing the joy, peace, hope, and love that come when Jesus Christ is born. Lead us, Lord to navigate and live in these changing times with the promise that the next stage of life will be just as good if not better than the ones we are living through today.
For those who are seeking new job possibilities, we pray for opportunities to come their way. For those who are looking for refuge and a place to call home, we pray for understanding and compassion to care and forgive. For those who are fighting in foreign wars and placed at harm’s way, we pray for protection and safety and that after completing their assignments that there would be places for these men and women of our armed forces to restart their lives as civilians. And for those who have arrived at life ends, like our good and faithful friend, Doris Yim, we pray for mercy and peace.
As we wait for your appearing we pray that your joy will dwell with us and your peace be seen in us. These things we pray in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together, “Our Father…”
Offertory
This is the moment we are given, the opportunity we have received, the challenge we must endure—let us respond in this time of offering with gratitude and thanksgiving.
O God, we thank you for the part, great or small that we play in the events of this day. We have an impact, thanks to your grace. We make a difference, thanks to your design. You have granted to us the wonder and mystery of being able to make choices. May the choices we make today work out for the best for your good will. This we pray, embracing the present, trusting the ending to come. Amen.
Benediction
Go forth in peace, but not in complacency; be strong, but not arrogant; have conviction, but be understanding of the beliefs of others; be eager to love, but not meddlesome; be proud enough not to have contempt for yourselves, but sufficiently humble not to be jealous of your neighbors. Go forth in peace. Amen.