Sundays after Easter
Prayer
Pastoral Prayers For All Seasons
Object:
Eternal God, the hope of every soul, strengthen us in this hour of worship. Take us to that rock that is beyond the reach of our enemies. Be, O God, our high tower that we might be free from the sins that pursue us.
Sweep clean our vision, O heavenly Guide, that we might clearly distinguish the truth from the untruth, the high from the low, the clean from the unclean, and the enduring from the transient.
May we, through your guidance, be able to set aside our confusion and bewilderment and find the path where your word is a lamp to our feet.
O Lord, may our faith in you increase. Many times darkness creeps in because the events of our lives are so overpowering and imprisoning. The weight and burden of our existence becomes nearly too much to bear.
We cannot understand why death visits when it does, why hardship continually comes to the same life, why your children mock and destroy all that is good, why we are torn inwardly by hatreds, fears, and anxieties.
At last the question, "Why?" keeps ringing in our ears until we strike out at someone, run away, do something, anything in an effort to erase the shadow that darkens and claims us.
Therefore we fervently pray for eyes to see you in all your splendor; to see the world as the good place you have created it to be; to see others as beings of eternal worth; and to see ourselves as your beloved children.
Lead us to that higher place beyond our ability to reach, but within your love to give.
Teach us the beauty of surrendering, so that we can stop our petty feverish ways, our rebellion against you, and place ourselves within the power of your truth. This prayer we offer in the name of your Son. Amen.
Taken loosely from the Psalms
Sweep clean our vision, O heavenly Guide, that we might clearly distinguish the truth from the untruth, the high from the low, the clean from the unclean, and the enduring from the transient.
May we, through your guidance, be able to set aside our confusion and bewilderment and find the path where your word is a lamp to our feet.
O Lord, may our faith in you increase. Many times darkness creeps in because the events of our lives are so overpowering and imprisoning. The weight and burden of our existence becomes nearly too much to bear.
We cannot understand why death visits when it does, why hardship continually comes to the same life, why your children mock and destroy all that is good, why we are torn inwardly by hatreds, fears, and anxieties.
At last the question, "Why?" keeps ringing in our ears until we strike out at someone, run away, do something, anything in an effort to erase the shadow that darkens and claims us.
Therefore we fervently pray for eyes to see you in all your splendor; to see the world as the good place you have created it to be; to see others as beings of eternal worth; and to see ourselves as your beloved children.
Lead us to that higher place beyond our ability to reach, but within your love to give.
Teach us the beauty of surrendering, so that we can stop our petty feverish ways, our rebellion against you, and place ourselves within the power of your truth. This prayer we offer in the name of your Son. Amen.
Taken loosely from the Psalms
