Prayers of the Church, 9.28.14

Loving God, as we worship today, we are grateful for the opportunity to do so.  We are grateful for our Christian family, our brothers and sisters with whom we serve.  Thank you for providing us with such a wonderful, loving community in which to live and serve.

We bow before you now, ready to hear your call once again.

We know the greatest commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

We hear your holy scriptures.  We hear the voice of the Savior as he calls those to follow Him, as he calls US to follow him.  In our strongest voices, we reply, “we will, Lord Jesus!” but much too often we add the words “but first…”

But first, let us get our children through school

But first, let us pay off our debts,

But first let us secure our futures

But first let US take care of ourselves

But first, let us live our lives as WE WILL them

…even as you call us

You call us to feed your sheep, to minister to the sick, the distraught, the dying

You call us to bring back the lost, to share the Good News to the far reaches of the world

You call us to glorify you.

Lord God, strike the words, “But first” from our hearts, our souls, our minds.  Teach us what it means to truly be Your disciples, not just people who want to please You once it fits into our schedules, but as people whose faith allows us to follow You with abandon, knowing You will provide for us.

Help us free ourselves from the love of our comfortable, easy lives…even if we don’t always see them as comfortable or easy.  Help us internalize the knowledge that there is no other first, but following you.

In the silence, Father, speak to us…allow us to know, by faith that you prepare us for the work ahead of us.

Thank you, gracious God, for the Son of Man, divine, but made human, whose sacrifice reunited us with you. 

We now specifically ask your blessings on Emmanuel Christian Seminary, on the faculty and the staff.  Give them strength, wisdom, and peace as they work to prepare men and women for a lifetime of effective ministry.  We ask your blessings on Emmanuel’s students as they seek to learn and prepare while discerning the path You set before them.  Help all those associated with Emmanuel see your hand as it touches the seminary and guides it through a sea of change.

And now, we pray as Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, the Son of God, taught us to pray: