Here’s a prayer of intercession written by Bruce Prewer.
For other suggested prayers of intercession suitable for use on November 6 (or other occasions), see this Scriptural Prayer Index or this Topical Prayer Index, or see these other blog posts.
Prayer of Intercession
We pray for the people around us in this world, and then for ourselves.
Holy Friend, in theory we know you love each one of us. Teach our hearts how much you really do love every other sinner on this planet; not just the believers but also the unbelievers, not just good folk but also the very bad.
Receive our prayers for the many kindly people we meet each week: At work and in the street, at sport and at the theatre, in service organisations, committees, and agencies that fight for the rights of the needy and exploited.
Bless them with the love they need,
and deliver us all from evil.
Receive our prayers for the many awkward people we meet: The painfully shy, the prickly characters, those who are always complaining, the quick tempered and those who don’t seem to be aware when their words and actions hurt others.
Bless them with the love they need,
and deliver us all from evil.
Receive our prayers for the people we thoroughly dislike: The manipulators who try to use us, the loud-mouthed whose language disgusts us, the greedy who are out to cheat us, the strong who try to bully us, the cruel whose deeds horrify us, and the “low-life” whose life-style revolts us.
Bless them with the love they need,
and deliver us all from evil.
Receive our prayers for the people who are easy to like and love: The generous ones, the folk who keep their good humour when under pressure, those who volunteer for the difficult tasks, those who bear no grudges and all who maintain integrity when others are being devious.
Bless them with the love they need,
and deliver us all from evil.
Receive our prayers for those who dislike us: One-time friends who turn against us, folk at work who make things unpleasant, relatives who try to put us down, neighbours who make a nuisance of themselves, and those types who go out of their way to ridicule Christians.
Bless them with the love they need,
and deliver us all from evil.
Receive our prayers for all who are miserable today: Any who suffer from depression or acute anxiety, any who have just received bad news about their health, people who have been spurned by a loved one, the many who are hungry or homeless, those imprisoned for crimes they did not commit, the drug addicts who can’t break free, the dying and the grieving who have no one to comfort them.
Bless them with the love they need,
and deliver us all from evil.
Holy Friend, please may the hands of Christ be upon of all these people, and on the millions whose misery is far beyond our knowledge. Lead this world away from all that is maimed and maiming, from all that is degraded and degrading. Hasten the day when we shall walk in the Promised Land where Christ’s love and joy is everywhere. In his name and for your glory. Amen!
— written by Bruce Prewer, and posted on Bruce Prewer’s Homepage. Visit his site for other wonderful lectionary-based worship resources.
For more worship resources for November 6, 2011 (the twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost), click on Proper 27A in the list of “Labels” at the lower right side of the page.
For other prayers and prayer resources on this blog, see this Scriptural Prayer Index or this Topical Prayer Index.
