Our Shared Prayers

February

February 26

February 19

 

For Family Day: A prayer for the family of God

Holy God, you are both our heavenly mother and father. You walked among us as a brother and called us to count each other as siblings, seeing each person as one of your children.

Forgive us when we meet your unending love and compassion with petulance and doubt. Forgive us when, like small children, we squabble over small things, losing sight of the bigger picture of your Kingdom.

Thank you for blessing us with inclusion in your family. Help us, we pray, to extend that blessing to the whole family of humanity, including each person in your boundless love and familial fellowship. As we live out your love, may your Kingdom family grow to include each of the magnificent humans made in your image; every one of them your child.   Amen

Written and shared by Jenn Ratzlaff, Calgary First Mennonite Church

 

February 12

God, where do we turn to find relief for ourselves and the world?

We are not alone. You are with us.

Breathe your love into the dark.

Your love brings light.

Your goals illuminate the way toward healing.

Help us see you reaching out to us,

As we courageously reach for you.

Though confusion and controversy swirl,

bumping into calmness, upending care for those in need,

Though we hear of an alternate view of religion

Where the privileged are favored, and neighbors shut out,

We need not let the chaos overwhelm us.

Each expression of care, each call for mercy,

each insight about justice that reconciles,

each declaration of truth matters.

In you, God, all thoughts and efforts for good come together.

We trust that in you, all will be made right.

While we wait, help us to hold fast to hope,

To be actively kind,

And to be heartened by the goodness of people near and far

Who speak up for human dignity and peace.

Even in this topsy-turvy time

We can live without fear.

Despite brokenness,

There is still

Laughter of children,

Sun glittering on snow,

Time with friends and family,

Joy in community gatherings and worship.

Numerous are the ways to experience your presence with us.

In a seed, a spark, a hope, a promise,

In the love that existed before you created the world

and continues to thrive, there is hope.

The world is yours:

We are your creation.

Faithful God, in you we are secure.

Amen

Written and shared by Margaret Kruger-Harder, Foothills Mennonite 

 

February 5

Lord, 

I thank you for being present in the individuals around me.

I can see you working in and through all of them each day which is a blessing. 

I pray that they will continue to let you work through them as they are doing amazing things. 

We were made to be loved by you and that is clear in the care you used when creating us in your image. 

I thank you for this community of faith and this world we live in.

Amen
 

Written and shared by Liesel Retzlaff, Columbia Bible College student, Family Ministries Assistant at Emmanuel Mennonite Church, Abbotsford, B.C., and one of two leaders of MCA's Creation Care Working Group.