Prayers 12 28 2008
*All-Church Prayer Meeting, 12:45, led by Deacon Butch Chan
*Chinatown Books, Vol. II; available to pick up and purchase from Bill Chin today
*Annual Reports are due next Sunday, Jan. 4th; write your reports before going out to celebrate the New Year!
Prayer Concerns
*Koren Ng’s father passed on 12/21; funeral services took place yesterday
*Pastor Peter Lee, Lydia and their two daughters will arrive tomorrow evening
*2009 New Year Peace and Hope
Prayer of God’s People
Merciful God, we give thanks for this Christmas season and for whatever moments of joy we have known. We thank you for a festive Christmas worship, for gatherings, gifts, and greetings shared with family and friends. You brighten our lives with the light of Christ. We thank you for renewing the gift of faith you have created within our heart and within our community. We are grateful today for the message of Jesus’ singular focus to be in your house and about your business.
Warm the hearts of all who heard the Christmas Gospel, dear Jesus, and be born anew in their lives. Break down the barriers that keep people from knowing your presence, and raise up those who can reach across those barriers to offer an encouraging word. We lift up in prayer those who are in need of your comfort during this Christmas season. Be merciful with Koren Ng as she remembers and celebrates her father’s life; believing that life is eternal in you.
O God, as we look forward to a New Year’s celebration we give you thanks for your grace revealed to us through this past year. Your mercies are indeed new every morning, dear God, and we praise you for revealing that mercy to us through Jesus Christ. May our celebrations find us safely in the company of family and friends, heartened by memories of past days, and encouraged by hope for the times to come. We pray for Pastor Peter Lee, his wife Lydia and their two daughters, Tiffany and Andia as they come to San Francisco tomorrow to begin their new life with FCBC in the New Year. Keep them safe and dwell among them to reassure them that this is your will with blessings overflowing. Lord, be with all of us as we work together as your faithful people in spreading the life-giving Good News of Jesus Christ in the world in 2009.
Gracious God, the celebrations of Christmas and the New Year run together, and each speaks to the passage of time. Lord, keep on reminding us that Jesus’ birth took place at the right time and is a timeless event. But also the first day of a new year measures calendar time, the passing of days, weeks, and months. We are thankful to know that our lives go on mixed with the timeless truth that in Christ, we are saved.
In the name of Jesus who touches our humanity and comes close to us, as Lord and Savior who taught us to pray together saying, “Our Father…”
Offertory
Let us continue the season of gift-giving by sharing our tithes and offerings.
Our gifts are before you, gracious God, in the form of our offerings placed on the table is our lives standing here. Receive all we offer you, shape and mold us in the way you choose, and allow us to serve you in Christ’s mission here on earth. We give only because you first gave and loved us into salvation. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
Benediction
Whatever you do, in the rituals of word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
Let the presence of Christ lead you out through the doors of this sanctuary into your calling in the world.
May you have a safe and hopeful New Year!
Go with God’s peace.