Here
is another prayer of intercession and confession for the fourth Sunday of
Easter (April 29, 2012), often referred to as "Good Shpeherd Sunday."
(with allusions to Psalm 23, John 10 and I Peter 2)
Dearest Lord,
Holy Lamb of God,
Shepherd of the world,
You lead us to respite and relief.
You are our provider and sustainer and through Your
providence,
we will never want for Your Presence.
You lead us to fields of plenty
and You refresh our souls with the cool clear waters
of Your spirit.
Holy Lamb of God,
You are the Good Shepherd.
We follow You Lord because we know Your voice.
We know that You will lead us through the valley of
the shadow of death.
You are Yourself the Gate—
we can only come to the Throne of Grace through You.
And You are truly with us—Emmanuel, God with us—
so we will not fear evil but be comforted.
You came to give us life and give it to us
abundantly.
You have prepared Your table for us and anoint us
for service.
Anoint us with Your Holy Spirit:
help us to devote ourselves to Your good teachings,
to worship, to fellowship and to prayer.
We eat the food that You have given us,
both spiritual and physical and You nourish us.
Holy Lamb of God,
today we pray for our sisters and brothers,
especially for those who suffer.
We pray for the children—
those who live in plenty, but also for those who
live in want.
We pray for all of those who live alone, the
homebound and the aged.
We pray for those who are absent from us—
those who live far away,
or are stationed in far places and live in great
danger
or those who are absent from us even though we share
a house with them.
We pray for those who grieve and mourn.
We pray for those who are imprisoned by addiction or
disease.
Holy Lamb of God,
we confess that we have sinned against you in
thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done, and by what we have left
undone.
All of us are like sheep who have gone astray—
we have not loved You with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
Forgive us and free us for joyful obedience.
Help us to follow the example of Christ.
He left his petitions in the hands of God, who
always judges fairly.
Help us to remember that He personally carried away
our sins in His own body
so we can be dead to sin and live for what is right.
Help us to rejoice that we have been healed by His
wounds!
Once we were wandering like lost sheep,
but now we have turned to Your Shepherd, the
Guardian of our souls.
All we can say is thank You
and pray that Your goodness and mercy will follow us
all the days of our lives.
These things we pray in the name of your Son, the
Holy Lamb of God,
who taught us to pray saying…Our Father……
— posted by Theresa Coleman, on her Reverend Mommy blog.
For more worship
resources for the fourth Sunday of Easter,
click on Easter
4 in the list of "Labels" to the right.
