A Sunday Prayer for History

Dear God,

In a world of smoke and mirrors and shifting sand, we thank you for being the Rock on which we stand.*  The passing of time brings loss and change, enough to shake the most steady soul, but you are ever with us.  When we fail to cope and berate each other give us peace within our hearts.  Remind us when we provoke our children, lose patience with our spouses, and complain about our work that we are a people of blessing.  Keep us mindful of your promises to us that our hearts may grow thankful and not bitter.

We continue to fret over money.  Paying three dollars a gallon seems unfair, and we hate to be burdened this way.  As we deal with economy and make hard decisions we pray that you would show us the way of simplicity.  In our thanks for food and drink, family and friends, community and health may we learn that is enough. 

We honestly pray for our leaders.  They have such tough decisions to make.  May our voices inform them and not deflate them.  Give them wisdom to lead.  We pray as well God that when political answers are not the end of our problems that you would give us the wisdom to lead.  We are the body of Christ on earth, may your Christians practice the discipline of “Thy Kingdom Come.”

Thank you God for being our Rock, for today we stand at the end of history and the beginning of future and we don’t know what it may bring.  We give thanks for the people of North Africa and the Middle East that they have found a voice and the world can now hear what they call for.  But we pray for peace to come, along with an end to oppression and tyranny.  May the people of Africa and the Middle East gain the freedom they desire that we have taken for granted.  As troubling as the affairs of the world may be, and as uncertain as they leave our future—from political changes in Africa to growing populations and economies in Asia may we remember to rest our hope in the future on you, that we may know that all things will work out for good.

We pray for the earthquake victims of New Zealand, and those coping with the aftermath of flood in Australia; and as we consider the world, we lift also the needs of our friends up to you God.  We know of many who have received word in the last weeks of serious health concerns for themselves or for family and we pray that as their worlds change in a way that will render them forever different that you would be their strength. 

And we pray for your Church dear God, and our little part in it.  May we be the agents to drive change for your Glory instead of the reactors that infuse anxiety into the world.  We can do this through your will, and for this reason we pray the prayer you taught us through Jesus, our Saviour:  Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us of our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever, Amen.

*credit to Jerry Varner for this line, a youth minister and friend from Richmond.