Pastoral Prayer: Epiphany

Here is a prayer of thanksgiving and intercession from Richard J. Fairchild’s Kir-shalom website.

Prayer for Others

Eternal God,
you are the maker of us all, and we are your creation,
people formed in your image, as individuals, as community;
formed and fed and furnished with understanding of who you are

and of who and whose we are.
We worship you today in recognition of your calling,
of your communicating,
of your caring to invite us to share in your creative and healing work. 
We are here because we have heard you speak in us and through others. 
Help us, dear Lord, to ever respond to you
and your invitation to your grace...
Lord hear our prayer...

God of all our moments, of our days and our nights,
you speak and you act in the world around us,
not only to call all people to you,
but also to direct and guide us in the way of healing and wholeness. 
Awaken us Lord, to hear what you would say to us. 
Help us to open our ears, our eyes, and our hearts to your presence.
Help us to know when it is your voice we are hearing
and it when it is our prejudices and desires to which we are paying heed....
Lord hear our prayer...

Lord, we pray that your church may rise up with renewed commitment
in answer to your call,
that your people may be instruments of your grace and love....
Lord hear our prayer....

We pray for those who consider themselves inadequate
and dismiss or avoid your calling in their lives. 
Give them a new vision,
a vision in which you are their strength and their hope...
Lord hear our prayer....

We pray for those who, in answering your call,
must leave the known for the unknown,
the oasis for the desert, the comfortable for the uncertain.
Grant them courage and steadfast faith...
Lord hear our prayer....

We pray too, today, O Lord, for those in want and need –
for those of us and of the larger community who suffer in body or in soul. 
We remember before you…[various intercessions]
Lord, hear our pray.....

Loving Father, bless us all with an abundant faith,
a fruitful ministry, a joyful life. 
Bless us and all those who gather together to continue the work of Jesus,
who came to heal, save, and deliver us all,
and who taught us to pray as one family, saying...
Our Father....

~ written by Rev. Richard J. Fairchild, and posted on Kir-shalom. http://www.spirit-net.ca/sermons/b-or02sm.php