Dearest Creator of all that is and ever will be. Guardian of Light. Giver of Breath. Judge of all deeds, seen and unseen.
Infuse us with your love, gratitude, and peace. Let us feel safe in a world thriving in chaos and fear. Help us to raise our children without prejudice. Teach us to teach one another to no longer perpetuate the hatred among humankind. We need to lift one another up to a higher consciousness of connection and compassion. It is so abhorrently apparent that we are incapable given our current mindsets. Show us the ways of our youth so that we can understand and welcome their ideas. The old ways no longer work.
Almightiest One, we cannot fathom the pain and suffering of so many in this world.
Our broken hearts and prayers extend in so many directions which only you can guide.
In trust, we bring our hearts’ cries to you, God of mercy, love and truth.
We beg your mercy for Ukraine and Russia. Let us support those who have lost so much. May we find a way to lift-up those who are hurting others and destroying the multitude of lives and property around them.
Carry us through these challenging economic times everywhere. Inflation is contributing to more hungry and even starving people and families. So much food is wasted and so many are hungry. How can we comprehend this? How do we help?
Help those living in Paris, France as they strike for higher wages to survive. Help ease anxieties of the French peoples, as in so many other countries, as they are becoming more and more anxious coming into the winter season and dealing with their critical energy shortage.
Please share our hearts with the families of the 40+ miners killed and many more injured in a coal mine explosion in the Bartin Province, Turkey this week.
Prayers for the people of Mubende and Kassandra in central Uganda as an Ebola outbreak is in process. The government there has locked down 2 districts for 21 days in the hope of curbing the spread of this deadly disease.
Prayers for Haiti as the police continue to fight gang violence and mayhem.
In trust, we bring our hearts’ cries to you, God of mercy, love and truth.
O, Holy One, we also pray for Pope Francis and the Vatican as they discuss the future structure of the Catholic Church. Aiming for the Church to be more inclusive of such concepts as LGBTQ+, women in church leadership, as well as sexual morality, the Pope wants to be more “responsive to real world issues facing ordinary Catholics.” Such change is anathema to some in the Church.
Similar discussions are taking place in other faith communities with similar controversy. Creator God, may your Holy Spirit lead all to dare to hear Your voice in these exchanges rather than operating only from personal fears, prejudices and biases often masking a desire for control rather than seeking your will.
In trust, we bring our hearts’ cries to you, God of mercy, love and truth.
Flooding continues to wreak havoc alongside drought across the globe. Our sympathies extend to flood victims throughout Nigeria where more than 600 people have died. Also to those in Pakistan where more than 1,500 have died due to flood and associated diseases, as in Australia, Venezuela and Kenya.
We continue to pray on climate control and the tremendous water shortages throughout the world as many major rivers are reaching horrifically, low water levels. Among them: the Danube and the Loire, the prime rivers in Europe; The Mississippi, the Colorado and Lake Mead in the United States; the Tigris in Iraq… and many more. We have so much rain in some places and none in others. Help us please. At the opposite end of the spectrum, there are storms which are demolishing everything some people have. Is there no balance between too much and not enough?
Do help us through another flu season all over the world especially where vaccination programs are faltering or non-existent. New strains of the Covid virus are affecting people as we continue to fight against this pandemic and its long-term effects.
In trust, we bring our hearts’ cries to you, God of mercy, love and truth.
How do we put an end to the political mayhem for those in the “United” States of America. What or who is “united”? Too many politicians seem to want to promote divisions on racial, economic, religious, political, and even sexual grounds often based on lies and hatred. When did it become acceptable to combine “church and state?” When did the government become morally competent judges of what is right and wrong? Their actions and words too often show disrespect for those other than themselves, so breaking down trust and increasing disengagement with the democratic processes.
We pray for similar situations in so many other countries affecting your children and planet in this your world, gracious Father of all.
Everything around us feels out of control because it is. But you God by nature are order, mercy, justice, love and truth; not chaos; ruthlessness, injustice, hatred and lies.
In trust, we bring our hearts’ cries to you, God of mercy, love and truth.
It is in times like these when we tend to overlook the good which many people do without expectation of acknowledgement for their deeds. These actions come from the heart and are quickly forgotten by the giver yet possibly remembered for a lifetime by the recipient. Little gestures…
… A simple smile from someone passing by.
… Letting someone go before us in line at a store.
… Holding the door for another.
… Saying thank you.
… Please.
… Reaching out to say hello.
… A greeting card.
… A prayer.
… A flower.
… A compliment.
… A listening ear.
… A hug.
… Sharing.
… Forgiveness, for ourselves and all others.
… And Grace, most benevolent One. We humbly ask your grace for each and everyone of us as we carry on with our daily lives.
These things, which most of us learn as little children, are building blocks to a better humanity.
No one is born to be cruel; it just does not seem possible.
We need to love and encourage each other.
We need to rely on one another.
We need to accept one another.
We desperately need to respect all living things.
We are not superior to any one thing on this planet.
Are we not to be instruments of your peace? We are failing. Please forgive us Sweet Lord.
I do believe we all look to the same “Light.” May we shine accordingly.
We pray this to You, who goes by so many different names. Yet in the name of our Father, Son and Holy Spirit… we bid AMEN
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May the blessing of light be on you – light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire,
so that stranger and friend may come and warm himself at it.
And may light shine out of the two eyes of you,
like a candle set in the window of a house,
bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm.
And may the blessing of the rain be on you,
may it beat upon your Spirit and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there a shining pool where the blue of Heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.
And may the blessing of the earth be on you,
soft under your feet as you pass along the roads,
soft under you as you lie out on it, tired at the end of day;
and may it rest easy over you when, at last, you lie out under it.
May it rest so lightly over you that your soul may be out from under it quickly; up and off and on its way to God.
And now may the Lord bless you, and bless you kindly. Amen
a Scottish Blessing, source unknown.
faithandworship.com/Celtic_Blessings_and_Prayers.htm
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