Intercessor:   Beloved,  there is so much to praise and be thankful for!  We uphold and bless our dear priests, Berto and Hugh, whose steadfast presence and generosity of spirit has helped in ways too numerous to count.  And for their dog, Ava, whose eyes join theirs in beaming your steady message of ongoing love.  And for our bishop, Gregory, our presiding bishop, Michael, and spiritual leaders everywhere who uphold the light in dark times, guiding many to safe shores despite stormy seas.

Allelulia! We praise and bless you dear Creator, Allelulia! Allelulia!

We praise and thank the many statesmen and women who are doing their best to assure our physical and economic well-being, who are struggling to support social justice and fairness for all. We ask that their hearts be inspired with wisdom to realize the highest ideals.

Allelulia! We praise and bless you dear Creator, Allelulia! Allelulia!

We praise and bless and thank all the health care workers, the scientists and researchers, and all who are using their gifts to make the world safer for everyone.  We thank all who have withstood exhaustion and loss in order to better serve.  We thank all the unknown heroes—of which there are many—doing the work you have asked us all to do, and doing it well. We include here the teachers who have struggled to find new ways to reach their students and impart knowledge needed for meaningful lives.  

Allelulia! We praise and bless you dear Creator, Allelulia! Allelulia!

We praise the beauty and diversity of creation.  This planet Earth and all its creatures and plants are a gift beyond belief.  And yet, your stewards fumble and even cause unneeded suffering.  Help each one of us to find the will to make a significant difference in the well-being of all your creation, especially where personal sacrifice and self-denial may be required.

Open all hearts to your wondrous love and wash away all fear.

And we ask prayers and blessings for those struggling with loss and uncertainty, for people who look for a better way to live, and we pray that all find renewed strength and hope and the capacity for moving forward with grace and determined wisdom.  We think now of people and concerns known to us privately (pause) and all those on our Parish Prayer List for whom, as a congregation, we pray as one voice: and for those for whom no one prays.  

Open all hearts to your wondrous love and wash away all fear.

And dear Creator, we pray for the rejected, the unloved, the betrayed, those who live in fear of their lives, for the abused and the abusers, and those for whom this night will be their last. We pray for the recently bereaved, who cannot yet follow those who have gone before.

Open all hearts to your wondrous love and wash away all fear.               

And we thank you for this beautiful Easter season, the blooming of spring, the lessening of the limits that have kept us physically apart for so long.  In Jesus’ name we praise,

Allelulia, Amen.  Allelulia!