Holy and ever-living God, God of grace and glory, God of power and might: Hear us as we pray. We gather to give you praise; we stand in wonder at your incredible creation and to stay thank you for our place in it. We are amazed, O God, when we stop and look, at all the ways you are at work in our lives, in small, subtle ways, and in big, incredible ways.
We give you thanks today for all that you have done for us. For walking with us through the wilderness and bringing us into the promised land… For walking with us to the cross and emerging from the empty tomb… For calling to us beside our fishing boats and inviting us to life with you, we give you thanks, O Lord.
We pray for our church today, and all the ways that we are trying to be the body of Christ together… We pray for our youth as they prepare for mission trips this summer, and we thank you for inspiring them to do good work in your world. We ask your blessing on our garden where planting has begun and soon we will see your earth coming to life with food we can share to feed the hungry. We pray for those in our church who gather today to study your word, here in worship, in Sunday school, in book studies and individual times of prayer. We pray for the leaders of our congregation and those who do so many unnoticed things to support the ministries of the church.
We pray for our world this morning. We pray for those who are working in the Gulf of Mexico cleaning up the oil spill. Forgive us for the careless ways we treat your creation. We pray for those who serve the poor and the hungry, the refugee and the immigrant… Forgive us for the careless ways we treat your people.
Inspire us and challenge us, O God, to do good work in this world. Call us out from our comfort zones and push us to see the pain and brokenness around us… Give us strength that we might truly be a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.
Hear our prayers, O God, as we lift them to you, for we know that this is your world; this is the day that you have made; we will be glad and rejoice forever. Amen and amen.
