Lector: Beloved Great Mystery—We praise you and thank you  for all the goodness you bring us:  our community, our friends, our comforts. 

Our hearts reach in gratitude for all those who serve your intentions with mindful kindness here on this earth:  we mention especially our bishop, our archbishop, our priests—Michael , Gregory, Berto and Hugh—our visiting pastor, Nancy, and all people who strive for social justice, world peace, and spiritual understanding.  We thank them all and pray for their well-being and continued service. We thank spiritual leaders everywhere, regardless of creed, for we understand that they inspire  many to choose the path of  love and selflessness.

We share their hearts’ longing for the healing of our world

We pray ardently for our troubled world as people of every nation  falter under delusion and  misplaced values.  They seem not to know you, Beloved God, Great One.  They seem not to act on behalf of your Creation, even when they claim to.  Shelter us and heal the siege of faulty communication and wrongdoing that spreads like an uncontrolled virus, a wanton spirit.  

Hear our hearts’ longing for the healing of our world.

Again and again certain places experience repeated storms, volcanoes, earthquakes, and engineering catastrophes.  Many frightened people are left homeless, without water, without medical care, without adequate food. Innocent animals die in firestorms.  On the streets of your cities, and even in our little island, people shiver homeless, living on porches or in tents.  Elsewhere, some of the most beautiful creations are disappearing in floodwaters. Forests and their inhabitants are disappearing, victims of thoughtless greed.  We pray that all this may be restored to balance and beauty. Help  all to act wisely.

Hear our hearts’ longing for the healing of the world.

We pray for our children, grandchildren and for families everywhere.  May those separated by war and immigration be restored.  We pray for teachers and all those in service occupations, and for the military who sacrifice so much.  We pray for the homeless, the confused, the addicted, and the underemployed.  

Hear our hearts’ longing for the healing of the world.

Together we offer special prayers for all those on our  parish prayer list whom we now name:  (XXX)

Please take time now to add your own intentions.  (pause)  May those who feel forsaken, and those who are bereaved find comfort in the certainty of your enduring and boundless love.

Hear our hearts’ longing for the healing of the world.

Hear oh Lord our pleasand bring peace and fulfillment to those in need.

 Presider: Oh Great Mystery, enfolded in silence and wonder, thank you for living and loving through us. May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all beings. Help us become a community that vulnerably shares one another’s burdens and the burdens of the world. Knowing you are hearing us better than we are speaking, we offer these prayers in all the holy names of God.

Amen.