A Prayer for Sunday, August 8, 2010

Father,
tune my heart to know your presence
this day and this hour.
Let me know your closeness
because life pushes in at every turn
and I need you.

In moments like these
and the other times of my life,
days of travel and study, of work and relationship.
Shape me,
recreate my heart and thoughts and decisions
to look like, and be more like your beloved Son, Jesus
who showed us and gave us a better way to live,
and a kingdom to live it in.

You be God, and I will be your servant.

Lord have mercy on this tired world.
For the people of Russia as their world burns
and the heat wearies them,
Lord, have mercy.

For the people of Pakistan, as the earth violently spews water
in places it's never gone before, and thousands are dead and
millions are homeless, hungry, and grieving.
Lord, have mercy.

For the people who live and work and worship around the
Gulf of Mexico.
Thank you that the oil has stopped angrily spewing from the deep pressures of the earth. Now help us to value and respect these pressures
and the lessons the earth has to teach us.
Lord, have mercy.

And for our little lot in life.
Whatever we have, whatever may come
whatever has been and whatever will be,
teach us to be grateful and generous. To love and respect and care for what we have, and those we share it with.

You be God, and we will be your servants.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen