Prayers of the Church, 9.20.15

Dearest Father, holy, holy is your name.  We bow before your greatness and majesty.  Thank you for allowing us to call you Father.  Thank you that we belong to you.  Thank you for never separating us from you and for allowing us to be your children. 

We pray that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Help us to mean this.  Reveal your will to us, and help us follow it.  Your will, not our will; your plan, not our plan; your direction, not our direction.  We thank you that when we stray from your will, you are ready to lovingly and gently accept us back…any and every time.  Help us remember that you never promised us a world or lives free from pain, suffering, or discomfort.  Help us remember, help us internalize, that what you promised through the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, is that we don’t have to endure alone.  You are with us, and you have given us the body – our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ – as our earthly support, guidance, and care.  Help us be present for each other.

We ask, Lord, that you give us what we need, every day.  We have that promise from you.  Help us expect it.  Let us be satisfied with what you give us; let us be generous, we pray, and give us caring and sharing spirits.  Help us to be aware and to act to bless those you constantly put in our paths.

We ask your forgiveness for our sins.  We are thankful that we have this promise, too, and that you are always ready to forgive.  Help us be forgiving of those who wrong us or who we think wrong us.  Help us be forgiving of our own failures.  Bless those who are different from us, and help us bless them, too, recognizing and focusing on our similarities.  Bless our enemies.  Help us make the effort to understand them and see them how you see them – as loved, as valuable, and as made in your image.

Father, help us fight all the temptation that we constantly face.  Give us strength to constantly seek your kingdom first, putting our personal desires and wants away while we focus on what you want for your world, your kingdom, your children.

In the silence, accept our thankful prayers and our hopeful petitions. 

                Silence

Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. 

As we thank you for your love and your care, we thank you also for the wonderful servants you raise up, prepare, and send out to every part of the globe.  We are grateful for the Headens and their decades of selfless ministry to the least, the last, and the lost.  Thank you for their example of sacrifice.  Thank you for their example of seeking your kingdom first over all else.  Thank you for allowing us to serve with them to better your world.

Now, gracious God, we raise our voices together and pray as Jesus taught us to pray: 

Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.

May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us today our food for the day

And forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.

And don’t let us yield to temptation but rescue us from the evil one.

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

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:

Prayers of the Church, 3.2.14

Great and wondrous God, we are grateful to be in your presence.  We come before you now, worshiping and praising your name, singing, sharing, and loving as you have called us to do.  

We marvel at your great love, a love that is so pure that we cannot fully comprehend it as much as we try.  At the same time that we acknowledge your greatness, your majesty, Father, we are often darkened in our understanding, alienated from you because of our hard hearts and our ignorance.  We have become greedy, insensitive, and have embraced recklessness and immorality.  This is not the message of Jesus Christ.  This is not how we were taught. This is not your agenda, Father.  This is not your truth. We know from the Gospel, Father, that your word is truth.

Your word is truth, gracious Lord.  Your word teaches us how to worship, how to serve, how we should live our lives of obedience to you.    We know it pleases you when we study your word, your truth, and then use it to remake ourselves as mature followers of the Way.

Your word is truth, Father, evidenced by your limitless patience, your steadfast faithfulness.  We know you shall never forsake us.  In times of stress, help us remember that you are THE constant in our lives.

Sanctify us in the truth, O God.  Clothe us in your truth so when the darkness of evil, when the selfishness of the world closes in on us, we can break free into the light that is your love.

Send us into the church, mature Christians, ready and able to disciple, using your strength and your truth to gird up our brothers and sisters, those both new in the faith and those long-suffering servants who never give up in their efforts to glorify you.   Help us center our lives around you, your people, and your call to share the Good News with the world.

Send us into the world to share your truth, the truth that is in Jesus Christ.  Send us into the world, Father, to share your love, to turn enemy into friend, to be kind to one another, tender-hearted, and forgiving all in your name, all to glorify you.

In the silence, hear our prayers of thanksgiving for this truth, this love.  We also know you welcome our joys and sorrows and we bring them to you now.

Your Truth is in Jesus.  Our truth is in Jesus.  Praise be to you, Lord God almighty.

We now remember one of our own family, Cody Spencer, who is faithfully serving with Globalscope in Spain.  Strengthen him and his team as they work to share your truth with university students who often believe in nothing. 

And now we pray together the prayer that our truth, Jesus Christ taught us:

Prayer of the Church, 11.24.13

The Lord is our righteousness.  The Lord is our righteousness.  You, O God, are our righteousness. 

Thank you, wondrous Father that we may make a statement like that.  Help us understand the overwhelming nature of such a statement…that without you, we have nothing; without you, we are lost.

Thank you that you let us be a part of your world.  Thank you for the privilege of being your children.  Thank you for Jesus Christ who you have placed before us as our king and savior.

King Jesus of the peasant’s birth; born in lowly settings; raised the son of a tradesman.

King Jesus ridiculed for his good deeds, for his good works done in the wrong way, for his Good News.

King Jesus mocked, beaten, scourged, spat upon because he would not bow down before false gods and false religion.

King Jesus killed for our sins, crushed for our iniquities, made unclean when he took on our imperfection.

King Jesus raised from the dead and reigning forever, calling us to a life imitating him, calling us to a life of sacrifice and discomfort, calling us to a life of service, calling us to a life of glory when we are all united in the truth that is Jesus Christ.

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.  All glory to the Father that he sacrificed his son to reunite us with him…royalty made peasant…perfection made unclean.  All glory to the Father who raised King Jesus from the dead and placed the Son beside the Father.

In the silence, let us reflect on the implications of such knowledge and how it should impact our daily lives, how we should strive to follow the life, teaching, sacrifice, and love of our King and Savior, Jesus.

Thank you, wondrous Lord.

Father, as we regularly pray for those ministering in your name, we specifically bring before you some of our brothers and sisters serving in Tuebingen, Germany.  We ask your continued blessings on the European Evangelistic Society as they strive to develop international Christian leaders and Unterwegs Campus Ministry as they minister to non-Christian students at the Eberhard-Karls University.  Give them zeal for their missions, wisdom for their decisions, and patience for their toils.

And now Lord, we pray together the prayer Jesus, our King and Savior taught us: 

Prayers of the Church, 8.4.13

God of life, from whom all creation flows, we acknowledge you as our creator, our Father, as the one true God.  We marvel at your greatness.  We are amazed at all the riches, all the gifts, all the blessings you have bestowed upon us.  You, O Lord, are a great and wondrous God. 

Knowing all of this, believing it in our hearts, we still act counter to your desires.  We do evil even when we recognize it as such and sometimes seem unable to stop ourselves.  Sometimes it’s worse because we are unwilling to stop our evil actions.  We are vile and petty, we are hateful and deceitful.  We lie, we cheat, we steal…we disappoint you. 

As you spoke in your Word, you were through with us, you were ready to destroy us.  We had rebelled one too many times.  It was over.  Yet, you did not completely give up on us.  With Noah you started again.  With Jesus Christ you started again.  You declared you anger, yet your love was just too great to let us go.  Praise be to you O Lord for sticking with us, for saving a people who so many times clearly deserved to be destroyed. 

We have been redeemed, evil as we are, much as we displease you…we have been set free through the blood of the Lamb – He was guilty of nothing, yet he bore all of our guilt.  He was blameless before you, O God, yet you let the weight of our sins crush him on that cross.  He made us clean. 

How do we respond?  How do we act?  What do we do?  We fall on our knees and praise your name for such boundless love; we work to strengthen the body of believers, to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters around us; we strive to like our savior, humbly sharing your love to those in need in so many ways.

You never gave up on us, you will never give up on us.  Help us never give up on our efforts to live lives that are pleasing to you.  Help us make friends of enemies, turn hate into love, and lift up those around us who are separated from your love.  Let the truth of the Gospel literally shine through us.

Thank you, loving God, for your merciful and endless love.

Now we turn our minds another way and bring before you a mission that we believe embodies what you hold dear, Father.  We ask your special blessing on Family Promise, the IHN Grandview has partnered with for many years.  We ask your continued blessing on them as they work to help challenged families stay together while they get back on their feet and move forward positively.

Thank you that you allow us to serve in your name.

Thank you that you allow us to approach you in prayer, and we do that now, reciting the prayer that our savior, Jesus Christ taught us:

Prayers of the Church, 7.7.13

Almighty God, the God who made the heavens and the earth, who commands all of creation, we give you thanks for the opportunities you present to us:  opportunities to worship, to learn, to share your Word, to have meaningful relationships with our brothers and sisters and with our maker.  You could have crafted us as nothing more than robots, toys to play with, but instead created beings with the ability to have complex relationships.  You wanted a relationship – to share your love – Godly love, fatherly love.  Thank you for this great, unconditional love.

Oh, God who commands the planets in their orbits, the sun as it shines, help us to hear and respond to your commands to serve each other and the world around us, to reach out to the dispossessed, to help those in need whatever the affliction, to love the unlovable, to build relationships with our enemies, to allow ourselves discomfort, pain, and even loss for the sake of others and the sake of the Gospel.

Gracious God, who put the world right, who puts creation in order – we ask your power upon us, the faint, we ask your strength upon us, the powerless.  We know that we are weak and selfish.  We fail each other; we fail you.  Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your world since there’s no way we deserve it.  Help us fully participate in your work to put the world right and not be those who would ignore or hinder your plans, your desires.  Align ourselves with your will to bless others and share Your love through Jesus Christ.  We call on you, Lord, to renew our strength; give us the ability to run and not be weary, walk and not faint, persevere in the face of evil, and use every opportunity of sacrifice, service, and proclamation to share the Good News and glorify you.

In the silence, hear our struggles, Father.  Respond to our cries, to our whispered failures and fears.  Let us know you are listening.  Smile upon us and wrap us in your love.

Glory be to you, Oh God, who was, who is, and who will always be.

Now, we specifically ask your blessings on the ETSU campus house – the staff, volunteers, and students as they serve you and share your love as a community on the campus of East Tennessee State University.  Encourage them; give them wisdom and strength; help them persevere even when the responses they seek don’t come as quickly as they hope.

And now we pray together the prayer Jesus taught us:

Prayers of the Church, 6.2.13

Great are you, O Lord.  Your word is upright; all your work is done in faithfulness.  This earth is full of your steadfast love.  We give praise to you, wondrous God.

In the beginning was your Spirit.  Throughout the ages, it has strengthened your servants, guided the faithful, and overcome evil.

When we accepted you through Jesus Christ, you filled us with your Spirit and made our lives new.  There was excitement in the ever-revealing knowledge of you.  There was awe of your greatness as you increased our wisdom.  Our eyes were made open like those of a new baby. 

Remind us about the excitement of being a baby Christian.

Recreate the passion in us when we were new Christians…when we believed all things could be done through you.  We say we believe it and time takes its toll, life takes its toll.  We see evil, we experience hardship, and we forget that you don’t make bad things happen.  We just want you to fix all the evils, all the sickness, all the trouble in the world.

Help us move past being baby Christians.

Create in us the hunger for more, the hunger to be filled with the Spirit, the hunger to do more than let your blessings flow over us.  Create the desire to bless others the way you have blessed us. Create the desire for the world to be made a better place as more people know you, as more people meet Jesus Christ through us, as we work to glorify you.

Deepen our wisdom, our knowledge of you, our faith in you.

As we hear your call and we look at ways to be your church, help us develop our vision, make it tangible, bring it to life in the name of Jesus.  In the silence we ask your wisdom, knowledge and faith on our leaders as they seek to help this congregation do your will in the world around us.

Glory be to you, great and wonderful Lord.

We know that our mission is to reach the lost around us and across the globe.  We pray specifically now for one of our own, Cody Spencer, who serves in a CMF campus ministry in Spain.  Strengthen his spiritual gifts and let the light of Jesus Christ shine through him and his work.

And now, Lord, we pray together the prayer that Jesus prayed and taught us: