Here is my pastoral prayer from Sunday
Loving God, we gather today in this sanctuary to be with you.
We thank you for this day and the promise you offer us. It is spring and a time of greening and graduations and new life.
May we recognize and savor all the gifts that you give us.
At the same time we know that there is struggle and sorrow for so many.
We are aware of shootings in Buffalo and a horrific war that continues in the Ukraine
We know that suicide and homicide are in the news and sometimes in our lives.
Some who are here are living with heartbreak, grief, declining health and fear about the future.
It is easy to fall into hopelessness and walk away from your love.
It is easy to seek meaning and identity in material possessions,
It is easy to find ways to numb ourselves to escape life and fall into self protective patterns.
Forgive us Lord and guide us today. Surround us with your love that will not let us go.
May we slow down enough so that we can hear you calling our name and know that we are your children, beloved by you.
May we be people of gratitude living in awareness of the beauty and the blessings of every day
May we continue to try to follow Jesus in loving all people including ourselves.
May we trust you God, even when we are not sure what the future is bringing,
may we live in faith every day - trusting in your presence and your power and your love so that we might be a source of light and love to others.
We pray all this in the name of Jesus who taught us to pray saying
Our Father who art in heaven - hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come thy will be done - on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive us our sins and we forgive those who sin against us
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever - amen
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