Gracious God, you love justice and hate oppression, you give peace to those who seek it, and you condemn the rage of violence. When the flood waters covered the face of the earth, the rain ceased so that you might give humanity a second chance. When you heard your people’s cry in Egypt, you sent Moses to bring a spirit of freedom. When your children were asked to sing their song in a foreign land, you sent them home to prepare the way of the Messiah. Gracious God, give us the courage to stand against evil, oppression, and abuse, so that your story of salvation may ring with truth in the ears of a hurting world.
Holy Father, Father of Christ, the pioneer and perfector of our faith, who came to bring the fire of the Spirit upon the earth, that it might be kindled for the perfection of our faith, we pray for those who are in need of the gift of faith, a vision of hope, and an experience of love. Pour out your Spirit upon us so that we, the church, might go out into the world, faithful stewards of hope and love. We especially pray this morning for those in the midst of divorce, those experiencing the division of a broken family, those rebuilding a betrayal of trust
Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, as we continue to pray saying:
Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us
Lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom
And the power
And the glory, forever
Amen!