Prayers of the People, Seeing is Believing... but... : 2nd Sunday of Easter

Second Sunday of Easter, April 27, 2014, Readings: Acts 2:14-41, Ps 16, 1 Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-31

   Thomas, the one who wouldn't believe without tangible proof, gets much of the attention here. And yet we seem to forget that the rest of the disciples also dismissed the accounts of Jesus being alive. Thomas only said what they had been thinking before they themselves saw Jesus. How much convincing would you have needed? How much do you still need? 
    On this Low Sunday (after the build-up and then the "high" of Easter Day), are you ready to live into and proclaim the Good News? 

Let Us, God's People, Pray

Leader:   ~ Risen Jesus, our Lord and Messiah!  How often have we walked through the penitence of Lent, the celebrations and passion of Holy Week, and Your miraculous Resurrection, and taken it all for granted because it happens for us every year?  Let us now truly REJOICE, as if for the first time, with the knowledge that You have suffered, died, and Resurrected for each of US. Thomas saw and believed, let us simply believe. 
                    You pour Your Eternal Spirit upon us
Repsonse:   Your Presence fills us with gladness

~ Risen Jesus, our Lord and Messiah! The wars and conflicts continue from Your own earthly life. The great and powerful leaders are much the same. Grant us courage to renew our faith in the eternal rather than the temporal, while we work to challenge our leaders to provide a just, merciful, and equitable life for all of Your people. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                      You pour Your Eternal Spirit upon us

                      Your Presence fills us with gladness

~ Risen Jesus, our Lord and Messiah!  Give refuge to those who are very ill, frightened, or worried and to those who give them care. Soothe their hearts and hold them all in Your healing embrace. We pray especially for:  add your own petitions

                      You pour Your Eternal Spirit upon us

                      Your Presence fills us with gladness

~ Risen Jesus, our Lord and Messiah!  Our joy at Your resurrection is tempered with our grief at the loss of those we love.  We cling to our faith that they are with You in the miracle of their own resurrections into Your eternal promise.  We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                      You pour Your Eternal Spirit upon us

                      Your Presence fills us with gladness

~ Risen Jesus, our Lord and Messiah!  Refresh those who guide us in Your Church and renew their delight in preaching the Good News of the miracle of our salvation by You and the message of Your pure love for us all. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                      You pour Your Eternal Spirit upon us

                      Your Presence fills us with gladness

The Celebrant adds: Jesus, our Living and Eternal Hope, all praise, and honor, and glory is Yours who was freed from death to free us from sin.  Help us follow Your path of life and know the fullness of joy in Your Presence.  We ask this through our Loving Creator, who with You and the Glorious Spirit reign, one God, forever and for eternity.  Amen.

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