Oh Holy Father-Mother God–Today’s scriptures glorify your nature. Help us to find better ways to love and care for one another and the troubled earth.   Help us to follow the examples and guidance given us by Jesus the Christ and to discover and live in true Christian love of all your children and the world you created.

We praise you in song and prayer, for you have done marvelous things.

We are so grateful for our priests, Berto and Hugh, and pray for their well-being and happiness. Their grace and example elevates us all.  And we pray for Melissa, our Acting Bishop, and Michael, our Presiding Bishop, and all spiritual leaders who celebrate and support the Beloved Community throughout the world.

We praise you in song and prayer, for you have done marvelous things.

We pray for the endangered earth and its many species–plant, animal, and mineral–and we thank you for the burst of loveliness that is the month of May here in our corner of the world.  We pray that all might better know you through the glory of nature. We thank you for pure water and pray that all beings might freely access it without fear of contamination.

We praise you in song and prayer, for you have done marvelous things.

We pray for the victims of war and its perpetrators who have lost sight of humanity’s true purpose.  We ask that world leaders work together to find peaceful solutions to world problems, that treaties be enacted, and that hearts be redirected to a kinder, simpler, and more generous way of living.

We praise you in song and prayer, for you have done marvelous things.

We pray for those in our community  with special needs, those struggling with identity, with childhood abuse and neglect, for those contending with addictions, racism, poverty, and other forms of exclusion. We ask insight in how to find better ways to treat all humanity with justice and respect. And we pray to identify and elect compassionate, wise political leaders.

We praise you in song and prayer, for you have done marvelous things.

We praise and thank all those in our church who reach out to serve one another and our greater community, including the Vestry, the Dinner Kitchen Group, the Agape Team, the Altar Guild and Flower Committees, and all those who celebrate and create music.  We are very grateful for those who make coffee hours possible after both services, as these times draw us together in ways that continue to resonate throughout the week.  We thank those who care for the grounds and maintain the labyrinth and ask that they might draw special pleasure from these beautiful forms of service that so many appreciate.

We praise you in song and prayer, for you have done marvelous things.

We pray for those who are ill, and those concerns known privately to us (a long pause) and those on our Parish Prayer List (repeat names slowly).

We praise you in song and prayer, for you have done marvelous things.

We pray for the lonely, the dead and the dying(pause).  May we know the tender comfort you bring as our hearts open to the great mystery, wonder and vast love that you have shown us.  Amen