Prayers 7 13 2014
*Welcome!
*Just returned from Turkey; thanks for watching over the church while I was away
*Welcome Rick Barlow, AB Foundation to our church; he led a Summer Series on Gifts Planning
*Summer Series—Next Sunday will be on the Burmese refugee situation and how ABC is responding by welcoming them to the US
*Tom Wong’s Memorial Service is tomorrow, July 14, 4:00, Chapel of the Oaks, San Jose
*Layton Doung’s Memorial Service will be on July 24 but it will be private and upon invitation
Prayer Concerns
*Maureen Wong and family
*Janet Chan, Keegan Doung, Logan Doung and family
*Thailand Mission Team returns home today after 2 weeks in Chiang Mai
*Theresa Furia’s father Rocco had surgery
*Final week of Day Camp
Prayer of God’s People
We come before you in prayer, loving Creator, and ask that you would help us to create with you. As we humble ourselves before you, we thank you for the seeds of faith you have planted in us when we were yet children. We thank you for the Sunday school teachers, pastors, music leaders and parents who encouraged the growth of your word in us. Give us courage, we pray, to release the gifts and the resources that would enable us to grow even more in faith in Jesus Christ.
During these summer days, we thank you for the many opportunities to be in ministry: for the daily ministry of Day Camp as it completes its 6 weeks this coming week; for the Chinese Summer Retreat this weekend when our brothers and sisters will grow in faith; for Youth Camp when our junior highs and senior highs will spend one-week exploring the meaning of discipleship in Christ. And as the Thailand Mission Team returns home today after spending two weeks in a village in Northern Thailand, we pray that you have worked miracles through their efforts and contributions. Bring them home safely with a burning heart for missions and the deeper faith they have in our Lord, Jesus Christ as Living Water.
Lord, our lives are fragile and often merely clay pots easy to break. In the midst of such painful times of loss of loved ones, we pray for comfort and the strength to trust you both on earth and when we return to you in heaven. Bless our time tomorrow when we celebrate the faithful life of Tom Wong. Bless Maureen and her family as they gather to share loving memories and granting them life-sustaining support. We pray for Janet Chan and her sons in the sudden passing of Layton Doung that you would provide reassurance and confidence to know that when there may not be answers for us to know, you know. When there may not be the idea of a tomorrow, you are the one who makes every filled with mercies. Grant them grace to trust your love for them. Bless Theresa Furia’s father as he recovers from his recent operation. We lift up for your care our loved ones…
We are grateful, Lord that you are always present to us; let us now be present to you that we might be fed and nourished and therefore be present to others. We pray all this in the name of the one who came that we might know what life of love looks like, Jesus, the Christ, who taught us to say when we pray…”Our Father…”
Benediction
My friends, go forth from this place nourished by the gifts of God’s love through Christ our Lord. So loved and so nourished, may you love and nurture others so that the kingdom of God may come. Amen.