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Pastor’s Prayers

Pastor’s Prayer for 11 December 2016

Behold, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled. My Lord, fill it.
I am weak in the faith; strengthen me.
I am cold in love; warm me and make me fervent, that my love may go out to my neighbor.
I do not have a strong and firm faith; at times I doubt and am unable to trust you altogether. O Lord, help me. Strengthen my faith and trust in you.
In you I have sealed the treasure of all I have.
I am poor; you are rich and came to be merciful to the poor.
I am a sinner; you are upright.
With me, there is an abundance of sin; in you is the fullness of righteousness.
Therefore I will will remain with you, of whom I can receive, but to whom I may not give.
Amen.

–Martin Luther

Pastor’s Prayer –for 4 December 2016

“A Christmas Prayer”

By Dorothy Hsu

 

It’s Christmas, Lord.

The season to be jolly and all that.

   But some of us aren’t so jolly.

 

It’s time for family to be together,

To sing ‘I’ll be home for Christmas.’

But Lord,

Some of our loved ones wont’ be home

This year,

Or ever.

And some of us find it very difficult

   To shop for Aunt Jane

And Grandpa.

   Some of us find our minds so

Occupied with a desperately ill child,

Or a tired worn-out body

   That we can’t cope with crowds

Or carols.

And some of find that

Happy memories of Christmases past

    Make this Christmas seem

Hollow.

Altogether unbearable.

It’s a temptation, Lord,

To just skip it.

   To refuse to decorate a tree,

Or send a card.

   Or purchase a single present,

For one alone,

   Such an approach is possible,

I suppose.

   But for little ones in a home,

Lord,

                          It’s unfair.

   It takes tremendous strength

For some of us to say

   “Merry Christmas” this year.

More strength than

   Some of us even possesses

And that’s exactly why you came,

Isn’t it, Lord?

 Christmas Joy, compiled and edited by Joan Winmill Brown (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1982), 48-49.

 

Pastor’s Prayer –for the first Sunday in Advent 28 November 2016

MORNING PRAYER
Christmas, 1943
God, to you I call early in the morning. Help me pray and gather my thoughts to yourself. I cannot do it alone. In me it is dark, but with you is the light; I am lonely, but you forsake me not; I am faint-hearted, but with you is help; I am restless, but with you is peace; In me is bitterness, but with you is patience; I do not understand my way, but You know the way for me.
Father in Heaven, praise and thanks be yours for the night’s rest. Praise and thanks be your for the new day. Praise and thanks be yours for all your kindness and faithfulness in my past life. You have shown me much good. Let me now receive from your hand what is hard. You will not lay upon me more than I can bear. For your children you let all things serve for the best.
Lord Jesus Christ, you were poor and miserable, captive and forsaken as I am. You know every need of humans. You remain with me when no man stands by me. You forget me not and seek me. You will that I recognize you and turn to you. Lord, I hear your call and follow. Help me!
Holy Spirit, give me the faith that rescues me from despair, addictions, and vice. Give me the love for God and humans, that destroys all hate and bitterness, give me the hope that frees me from fear and despondency.
Holy, merciful God, My Creator and my Savior, My Judge and my Deliverer, You know me and everything I do. You hate and punish evil in this world and in the next with no respect of persons; You forgive sins for the one who asks sincerely; You love good and reward it on this earth with a good conscience and in the world to come with the crown of righteousness.
Before you I think of all my loved ones, and of my fellow prisoners, and of all those who do their hard service in this house. Lord, have mercy! Grant me freedom again, and let me so live in the present that I can live responsibly before humans. Lord, whatever else this day brings—may your name be praised! Amen.

–Dietrich Bonhoeffer
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hung April 9, 1945, in Flossenberg concentration camp. He was 39.)

Pastor’s Prayer for 20 November 2016

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, the truth;
Where there is doubt, the faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
 
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
 
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

–St. Francis of Assisi

Pastor’s Prayer for 13 November 2016 (Early Thanksgiving Prayer)

Our Father in Heaven, We give thanks for the pleasure Of gathering together for this occasion. We give thanks for this food Prepared by loving hands. We give thanks for life, The freedom to enjoy it all And all other blessings. As we partake of this food, We pray for health and strength To carry on and try to live as You would have us. This we ask in the name of Christ, Our Heavenly Father. Amen.

–Harry Jewell

Pastor’s Prayer for 6 November 2016

Lord, tonight, We will face all that most concerns us: our fears, the shadowed places of the mind; the coming of winter darkness; the cold thin place between waking and sleep. We call to mind the powerless, the lonely, those who most fear the knock at the door; all those deceived by the world’s empty promises; all those cowed by menaces or threats. We stand with those weak in body, mind or spirit and those seduced by treats or hurt by tricks. Lord, your light shines into every darkness. You told us: pray ‘deliver us from evil’. Your Spirit gives us hope, gives us courage, a candle in the window unhurt by the wind.

Amen

–The Church of England

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