Prayers 8 15 2010
*Welcome
*Summer Series with Jon and Joyce Ng on Running a Small Business—Massage center
*Church Picnic—2 weeks from today; Purchase your tickets
*Family Camp registrations—see brochures in the vestibule; Young adults are welcome to come to Family Camp again this year!
*Special Course in October—“Bible & Theology” with James Chuck in Berkeley; Register and see flyer in the vestibule
*New Region Conversations, Tuesday, Allen Temple in Oakland, 10:00
*Special Relief Offering for emergency aid to the victims of the recent floods in China and Pakistan; next Sunday and at the church picnic
Prayer Concerns
*Faye Wong hospitalized with a blood infection
*Floods in Pakistan and China
Prayer of God’s People
God of wind and fire, God who sweeps away kingdoms and empires, false prophets and tyrants, our faith is typically lukewarm. You have set wonders in the skies, galaxies swallowed up in black holes, explosions shouting across millions of light years and in the face of immense distances we strive to confine you within a little box, fenced within a day called Sunday, imagining ourselves safe from tumult and terror.
O God, you call upon us to love each other more than self, but you call us to love you even more. Yet our self-love leads us to seek imagined security. We call ourselves followers of Jesus, yet remain uncertain of what he truly said. Startle us today, even fill us with alarm, that we might be baptized with fire. Call us back to ministry and mission in your name, here and around the world.
We pray for the suffering, the struggling, those uncertain and unsure, those who no longer set their eyes on the prize, for the ones who have lost their way. We pray for ourselves and especially for Faye Wong today as she fights her blood infection and to have her life restored. Strengthen David as he faithfully cares for Faye at her bedside by granting him hope and energy to persevere. Be with…
God of direction, guide us with certainty through the trials of our lives, that we may navigate our way through the distractions that affect us. Be our vision when all seems dark. Inspire us when our hearts grow faint and bless us today as we pray together, “Our Father…”
Offertory
Come forward with thanksgiving and praise, glad for the opportunity to give as a sign that Jesus lives in our midst.
Dear God, we pray that in this time of offering we would demonstrate that our entire lives are offered to you, laid at your feet, and dedicated to your service. We thank you for this trust. Receive these offerings given in recognition of your glory. Amen.
Benediction
Jesus comes to provoke a crisis in our security.
Follow Jesus and he will make you a faithful disciple.
God will keep your going out and coming in
from this time on and forevermore.
Amen.