NEW YEAR'S PRAYER OF HOPE

Lord, we stand at the door of this New Year,

thankful for the year behind us,
a gift through which we’ve lived and moved.
At this timely threshold,
with our feet poised to walk into 2015,
we turn to you with our prayer of hope.

Hope springs eternal when we walk with you.
Help us walk this year with you.
We hope that this will be a year filled
with joy, with love, with laughter,
a year filled with plenty and abundance,
with purpose and fulfillment.

But if the year brings hard times and hurt,
pain and sorrow, tears and trials,
we know that your care and comfort
will console us month by month.
Grace us with forgiving spirits.

As a community help us walk
with the happy and the sorrowful,
holding their stories tenderly.

We hope for peace in our time,
for an end to wild war music.

We long to hear the sound of governments
listening to their people,
heeding their pleas for justice.

We long to hear the sound of the children of the world
cheering together because peace has been declared,
and they do not have to fear anymore.

We hope for healing for our beloved earth,
for harmony and balance where we have caused
disharmony and unbalance.

This year, Lord, help us to feel in our bones
the beauty of this life, this world;
its sounds and sights and smells and tastes,
the lavishness of being
which you give us in seconds and minutes
and hours and days and weeks and months.

Move in us, have your way with us,
so that on the last day of the year
we can say, wholeheartedly,
this year has been a gift
through which we’ve lived and moved
as followers of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Copyright Carol Penner

www.leadinginworship.com

A Mother's Day Prayer

Loving God, we give thanks today for mothers!
Thank you for mothers who gave birth to us,
and women who have treated us as their own children.
You teach us how to be good mothers,
cherishing and protecting the children among us.
Help us mother lovingly, fairly, wisely and with great joy.
Help us raise our children to be the people they are born to be.

We need your comfort here today, Lord,
because some are missing mothers, some are missing children,
some are parted by distance or death.
Comfort those who have given up their child for adoption,
or who chose not to give birth, and had an abortion.
Comfort those who longed to be biological mothers, and could not.
We pray for those here whose mothers have disappointed them;
we ask for grace in relationships where there is pain and bitterness,
for healing in relationships where there is abuse and violence.
Help our congregation be a space where people can feel mothered,
their gifts and talents appreciated and nurtured.

Finally, we pray today for mothers around the world;
mothers who cannot feed their children,
mothers who are homeless or without a homeland;
mothers who must teach their children about the dangers of bombs and bullets.
Help us create a world where mothers can raise their children in peace and plenty.
God of mothers, who created mothers, who came as a child and had a mother,
God our Mother, loving us with a sweeter and deeper love than we have ever known,
hear our prayer this day, Amen.

Carol Penner
www.leadinginworship.com

Easter Congregational Prayer

God of the bright and morning star,

God of the rising sun,

God of the darkness banished,

we praise and worship you!

For empty tombs:  thank you!

For disciples running with good news:  thank you!

For your presence, alive, powerful, resurrected:  thank you!

We celebrate your victory over death,

over all the powers that would defeat us.

Help us to grasp resurrection;

to understand its power,

to see its force at work in our world,

overturning evil empires,

changing the hatred within us,

moving the world slowly, forcefully,

bending us towards love and truth.

On this day of great gladness

Empower us to be your ambassadors,

proclaiming good news.

Good news in our kitchens and living rooms,

good news in the offices and workshops

good news in the fields and factories.

Help us to be that good news,

walking softly on this good earth

caring gently for all people,

living hopefully into your kingdom.

Today we think of all who are grieving,

and for the sick and dying,

for places in the world that are torn by war and bloodshed.

In this world of broken hopes and dreams

We catch sight of your kingdom come,

in the person of Jesus Christ,

who lives and reigns in us forever.  Amen.

Copyright Carol Penner

www.leadinginworship.com

Happy Valentine's Day

What are Valentines?

Valentines are gifts of Love

And with the help of God above

Love can change the human race

And make this world a better place ---

For Love dissolves all hate and fear

And makes our vision bright and clear

So we can see the rise above

Our pettiness on "Wings of Love."

 by Helen Steiner Rice 

From the book called "Lovingly"

Poems for all Seasons