Prayers 4 8 2012
*Welcome! Happy Easter! The Day of Resurrection
*Senior Center, Wednesday on Hearing with Kaiser leader
*Live in Harmony, May 27; registration is next Sunday, April 15th; see Wendy Quan today!
Prayer Concerns
*Anthony Liu’s mother, Yue, Jin Lui, comatose condition after successive strokes and bleeds; waiting for another brother to arrive from China to say goodbye
*Danny Poon, Helen Poon’s husband suffering from lung cancer
*Sharon Young’s brother, Calvin is in ICU with colon cancer, low immune system, other health factors
Prayer of God’s People
Redeeming God, your abiding love endures forever. We give thanks to you and praise you, for as we die with Christ into our new life, transformed we are raised with Jesus into real life now and eternal life forever.
O Lord, help us to find once again joy in the glimpse of the world to come given to us by Jesus your Son. Help us to find again joy not only in our everyday life but also in the glimpses of Jesus’ resurrection. Interweave the story of our day to day lives with the wonderful story of Jesus. May our fears be shouted down by your Easter joy. May our lives be strengthened each day by your Easter promises. May our lives be enlivened and quickened by your Easter assurances. May our lives be filled by the sure and certain hope of the eternal life to come shown to us this Easter and every Easter from now until the end of time.
On this Easter, let us find a moment to realize that we are no longer trapped by time or matter or even our own fears. Instead on this Easter let us celebrate freedom from the decay of time, the limits of our material bodies and the shortcomings of our understanding. We pray for the loving and faithful life of Mrs. Yue Jin Lui as she remains in the hospital and having the care and attendance of her family as they bid farewell and thanksgiving. May this times lead to fond and cherished memories that will last a lifetime. We pray for Danny Poon who is resting and remaining strong with debilitating lung cancer. Grant him time and mercy and to always give thanks for every day that we have on this earth. We lift up Sharon Young’s brother, Calvin with colon cancer and other health concerns that he will regain his strength and be restored. We pray for…
O God, we confess that we struggle with the meaning of death in our lives and cannot escape its fear. We confess that we know all about the resurrection story but we still fail to live as Easter disciples. We come and ask you, dear Jesus, to rekindle in us your Easter spirit. Help us Lord to find not fear but the truth that you are standing beside us today.
As your beloved community, O God, let us leap into the hope of Easter, the hope given to us by Jesus Christ the hope of the world and the hope of each of us. Take our lives as our offerings and empower us to bring true hope to each person in the world.
We pray in the name of Jesus who showed us a glimpse of a truly loving God and Father and through his beloved Son taught us to pray together, saying, “Our Father…”
Benediction
Go tell empty disciples everywhere that Jesus has gone ahead of them,
beyond death to real life.
Jesus is risen
Go in peace.
Go in joy.
Go forward in faith.
Go with the assurance of God’s abiding love.
Jesus is risen today! Amen.