Here’s
a pastoral prayer from Rev. Richard J. Fairchild’s Kir-shalom website.
Pastoral Prayer: God of the Living
God
of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, we confess to you that we are frequently slow
to believe what you have promised through your prophets and in your Son
Jesus. We succumb to fears of death as
if it were the end of everything - and all too often we live as if there is
nothing to live for beyond death.
Forgive us Lord: forgive us our doubts, our disbelief, and our deafness
to the witness of other believers, and our silence when we could give witness
to the faith which we have...
Lord, hear our
prayer.
Lord
of mercy, God of the living, grant that we might see beyond the ruins that lie
about us; that we might take to heart the lessons of Scripture which testify to
your willingness and ability to bring new life to
dry bones. Give to those who despair a
vision of the resurrection which awaits all those who believe, all those you
have chosen. Help them to order their
lives by the principles of your everlasting kingdom—that kingdom in which
faith, hope and love transfigure all that they touch...
Lord, hear our
prayer...
Father,
help us be a people who are prepared for the journey which lies ahead. Take
from us all evil desire; remove from us any refusal we have to forgive others;
lift from us any reluctance we have to love our enemies and to bless, in your
name, those who curse us. Send unto us
the desire to love one another as Jesus loves us, the yearning to bring your
saving word to those who hunger, the longing
to reach out and touch another person with your love and to speak to
others—and to ourselves—your truth. Help
us to be ones who are prepared; help us to be ones who live Christ-like lives…
Lord, hear our
prayer.
We
ask all these things not in our name, but in the name of Jesus Christ—he who
taught us to pray to you for ourselves and for the coming of your kingdom
saying: “Our Father….”
~
written by Rev. Richard J. Fairchild, and posted on Kir-shalom. http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/sermons/c-or32sm.php
