Prayers of the Church, 7.18.10

Great and wondrous are you, most high of most high. It is you who have made us and not we ourselves. We are your people and the sheep of your pastures. Your blessings rain down upon us every day of our lives and we dwell with you and among you as your children.

Among your many gifts, Lord, you have blessed us with the greatest gift that anyone or any group could ever possess: the grace that comes only through the blood of the Lamb. Of all the creatures on the earth, we are the richest because of your great gift. Just as you have blessed us, so you expect us to bless those around us, friend or foe, beloved or scorned because they are your creations and you care for all of them.

Even though you have forgiven us and blessed us repeatedly, even though you command us to love one another, we often do not regard those around us with even an iota of the same grace.

Idiot! Worthless! Slacker! Disappointment! How easy it is to cover those we hate AND those we love with such hurtful, despicable monikers. The words can slip off our tongues before we even know what we’ve said. Even when we realize what we’ve done, we often leave it to those we hurt to “get over it”.

You put us on this earth to bless others in the name of the risen king. You put us on this earth to serve others with our whole beings. How can we accomplish your wishes if we cannot control our tongues?

Just as we can so easily wound those around us, at times we seem so easily insulted and hurt, almost as if we’re waiting to be offended. Then, once offended, we open our bag of excuses and allow the body of Jesus Christ to be damaged because of our sensitivities, our pettiness, our self-righteousness.

We so easily forget the sufferings of our Savior, our beloved Lord: He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

If the pure and blameless savior could endure the brutality that the sinful world had to offer, how can we not clothes ourselves with at least a little thicker skins, and choose to give the benefit of the doubt to those with whom we live, work, and worship?

Help us, Father, to cover those around us with blessings instead of heaping them with curses. Help us be mature Christians, people who look at the good in others, instead of looking to be insulted or put upon.

Bless our enemies, Lord. Forgive us when our curses are the reason they are against us. Help us to restore relationships instead of burning bridges with our negative words and deeds.

In the Silence, Oh God, allow us to repent of the curses, insults, and harshness we have cast upon the people around us. Help us redouble our efforts to bless, encourage and lift up those with whom we live. Too, Father, we bring our supplications for relief from our afflictions. Remove from us what you will and help us to cheerfully bear the ones which remain.


Praise be to you, Lord, for loving us in spite of our weaknesses and blemishes. We lift up our faces in thanksgiving.

Now we ask that you bless the Ghana Christian Mission and its leaders, Enoch and Lydia Nyador. We thank you for their ministry and ask that you bring them health and keep them well so they can continue to do your work among the people around them.

And now, we pray together as Jesus Christ taught us to pray: `