Prayers 8 1 2010
*Welcome
9:10 *Worship & Discipleship Summer Series with Lucinda Hsu on “Discipleship and Stewardship”
*Summer Series with Don Lam on Interior Design and Architecture; following worship today
*Next Sunday at 10:20, we’ll have Rev. Karen Yee share the Word of God
*Church Picnic tickets for sale today
*Register for Family Camp—with Guest speaker Rev. Margaret Marcuson from Oregon
Prayer Concerns
*Youth Camp begins today; youth to deepen their faith in Christ and for the leaders to have strength to guide and mentor youth
*Search Committee is posting the Pastor of Family Ministries position for applications
Prayer of God’s People
O God, we have sown, we have gathered, we have stored, we have rested. All things in our lives of work and play are in order. If we have sinned it is assuming that the time, always so urgent, is ours and ours alone. Wise fools are we, who fail to recognize that at any moment we can be called to account. Grant that we, as stewards of the world’s good things, recognize that everything we have, or imagine that we own, all that we use, and on occasion misuse, is yours, was yours, and will always be yours. We are blessed with abundance, and saddled with arrogance. Now, humbly, we acknowledge that the land, the produce of the soil, the resources, the products, and most of all the treasure we find in humanity close at hand and far away, all these are yours. May we think of ourselves less owners and more as stewards.
We give you thanks for your steadfast love, for your patience and forbearance, for your belief in us. We thank you that when we stray you send us prophets to call us back. And we are thankful for the word in scripture, as well as the word written clearly on our hearts. Our prayer is that our thankfulness can be matched by our actions as we seek to demonstrate our blessedness by responding to need. May others give thanks to you when they meet you through us. We thank you for this year’s Youth Camp that begins later today. Be present with the youth and all the counselors and staff as they experience your love and forgiveness in knowing your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
We pray for those who are seeking your grace and mercy. Be with those who are not well physically that they may find comfort. Be with those who are disillusioned because of unemployment that they may continue to see that you are watching over them and will lead the way. Be with those who are falsely chasing after life’s purpose superficially that they would only discover truth in a living relationship with you and their neighbors.
In this worship, may we experience renewal, may joy burst forth in our midst, may we feel forgiven, but most of all, may your name be lifted up in praise and thanksgiving. These things we pray in your name as we pray together, “Our Father…”
Offertory
Our offering this day is a time of thanksgiving, a time for reflection, a time for praise. God of glory has offered us a share in this ministry.
Dear God, may the good news about Jesus be spread throughout a suffering world through our efforts in prayer, service, ministry, and offering. Receive what we give willingly and magnify these gifts. These things we pray in your name. Amen.
The Lord’s Supper
If I had a mirror right now and start talking with you while I’m looking at myself, you would think that it would be impolite. We would say that a person who is always looking at himself or herself to be “self-centered” or conceited” or “vain.” The person is a narcissist. The Bible says, “Vanity of vanities. All is vain.”
Vanity is bad for us because it focuses our attention on things that are always changing: our faces, our bodies, our clothes and our other possessions. Things like that change like the wind and will go away. Like San Francisco fog, someday it will go away.
It’s much better to focus our attention on things that never change: God, Jesus and the importance of being faithful and loving people. When we focus on these things, then we don’t have time to look in the mirror all day, and that will make us happier and more attractive people.
Benediction
Go forth with wisdom,
Set free from the illusion of vanity,
Renewed in the Spirit,
Restored to grace!
May the blessings of God’s steadfast love sustain and guide you this day and every day. Amen.