Based on Luke 24:13-35 and 50 years of Earth Day
God of resurrection, of miracles beyond our understanding, hear us now as we come to you with the prayers and burdens of our hearts…
We pray for your church throughout the world. May we truly be the body of our Risen Lord, the Body of Christ in and for the world. May we see where you are leading us and be bold enough to follow after, even in our uncomfortableness.
We pray for our community, for essential workers, those working at home, those without work. We pray for the children home from school or doing school at home, we pray for those who don’t understand and those who are anxious in their understanding. We pray for those who are lonely and those who wish they had some more space from those they love. We pray for those who are struggling with mental health, with addiction, in pain awaiting needed surgeries or medical treatment they are not currently able to get. O Lord, make your presence be known to each to remind them you continue to walk with us even on this difficult road of grief and unknown.
We pray for your good and very good creation. While we weren’t able to gather for earth day like 50 years ago, may what is happening in creation around the world stir in our hearts what a different way of living, what a new world, a healed and restored world can and will look like. Help us to better care for your creation, living into this command first given in Genesis, to make a way for healing and restoration for all.
We pray for those who had already given up hope even before this time of pandemic due to economic hardship, stuck in generations of poverty, oppression, and marginalization. May we learn to love them as Jesus loved, lifting up the ones often forgotten and restoring them to life abundant. We pray for the leaders of our nation and the leaders of our world. May they resist corruption of sin and greed, let their eyes be opened to you and be guided by your righteousness and justice.
O God, we thank you for this day and all our days. May we never cease to be amazed how you walk with us, guide us, and reveal yourself to us, especially in our times of grief and pain offering us what we need. We lift up these prayers and those on our hearts to you as we pray together the prayer our Lord Jesus Christ taught us, Our Father…
submitted by Rev. Erin Moore, First Presbyterian Church of Chester, NY
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