If you have adapted one of these pastoral prayers or written some of your own would you be willing to share them with other pastors? Just Send them to me and I'll post them here to help other pastors. keith.drury@indwes.edu

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Sunday, December 21, 2008

Pasatoral prayer by James Benedict

Pasatoral prayer by James Benedict

O Lord God, we have no words adequate to the task of expressing how blessed we feel this day, as we come together for worship. We look around us and see sisters and brothers, people who share our faith and who have shared our joys and sorrows. We look at the cross and see a symbol of your commitment to our salvation and your amazing, amazing grace. We look in the Bible and see that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, and that you search for us when we are lost and that you celebrate with the angels when we are found.Help us, Lord, find ways to express our gratitude to you and to others. Help us bless the world with our words and deeds. Help us share the gospel of your love and welcome those who respond to it.Lord, we know we live in a troubled world. We have taken the creation you gave us and treated it carelessly. Now there is disorder where you created order; there is discord where you created harmony; there is filth where you created purity; and there is ugliness where you created beauty. Forgive us, we pray, for our part in the destruction of what you have made. And deliver us from the evil that we ourselves have let loose upon the earth.Discourage those who wage war so they might become willing to consider other ways to establish justice. Calm those who rage. Defeat those who seek to control others through abuse. And confront those who claim to speak for you, yet spew words of hate.Help us see as heroes those who work quietly for the good of others, creatively addressing perennial problems like hunger and disease. Bless with energy and insight those who are working to help the world avoid the catastrophe of a pandemic. Sustain those who are still working to repair the damage done in places that have now faded from the front page – the Gulf Coast, Pakistan, South East Asia, Darfur.Now Lord be with us as we turn to your word with hope. May we not be disappointed or go away hungry from this spiritual feast. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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