Please feel free to join us in the prayers prayed in worship Sunday, May 14, 2023:
Mothering, parenting God,
you have created all that is,
every bit of creation.
You love us into being,
and sustain us with your Spirit,
urging us to live lives
where all can flourish and thrive
and become all that you have created each of us to be.
We give you thanks this day for mothers
and for all in whom we have experienced loving, nurturing relationship.
We give you thanks for those who have raised us,
gone before us, taught us, mentored us,
brought a healing touch to our hurts,
worked for a more just world,
confronted us with truth we needed to see,
loved us and the world into being and thriving.
Trusting in your tender mercy and fierce care,
we pray for the needs and aches of the world.
We pray for the earth we have damaged to the verge of collapse,
repenting our wasting ways.
Turn us to toward radical new ways of living
that repair and sustain your creation.
We pray for an end to all systems of oppression,
particularly for an end to entrenched systems of American racism,
and systems that privilege and harm on the basis of gender and gender identity.
Where we are complicit,
help us to stop.
Give us the humility and courage to dismantle what needs to be torn down,
and build with you a better world,
following the lead and wisdom of those who have been harmed the most.
This morning, we pray particularly for refugees
particularly for those who have traveled to the southern border of this nation.
Watch over them, keep them safe,
teach us a deeper hospitality
that welcomes our siblings beyond what we think possible.
Speak to the leaders of this nation, of both parties,
guide them to reform our immigration laws
too long broken, too long neglected,
too long harming so many hurting people.
For those who are unhoused, we pray for shelter,
For those who are hungry, food enough and more,
For those who are hurting, healing,
For those who grieve, comfort,
For those who are lonely, companionship.
Thank you for your presence in the midst of us,
for your gift of Resurrection life,
breathing in us now,
breathing justice, freedom, and peace.
With all those who have ever called you name,
in every place and time,
we join our prayers with theirs,
praying the prayer that Jesus taught:
Our Father/Mother, 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 sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Photo credit: Lucas George Wendt, used by permission via Unsplash
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