Prayers of the People, The Human Family, 3rd Sunday in the Season of Creation

for October 26, 2014, 3rd Sunday in SoC*, Readings: Isaiah 42:5-9, Ps 146, Mother Theresa**, Luke 10:25-37

Before you speak to me about your religion, first show it to me in how you treat other people; Before you tell me how much you love your God, show me how much you love all His children; Before you preach to me of your passion for your faith, teach me about it through your compassion for your neighbors. In the end, I'm not as interested in what you have to tell or sell as in how much you choose to live and give.  

~ United States Senator Cory Booker

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ Most Gracious Parent, Creator of Our Entire Human Family, keep us ever mindful that we are each sometimes the other, creating and receiving suspicion and fear, when we step away from our familiar communities. Let Your light radiate from our eyes and our everyday actions be as works of charity, reflecting the overflow of our love for You from within ourselves.

    We praise You, LORD, from the depths of our souls

RESPONSE:     We will live and act as the mercy of Christ  

                                    

~ Most Gracious Parent, Creator of Our Entire Human Family, help us, especially in these days, to stand up and actively engage those we entrust with the decision-making in our World, our Country, and our Community.  You call us to be as a covenant to Your people to open the eyes of those blinded by self-interest, political machinations, and other oppressive conditions that do not fulfill Your love for Your people ~ our neighbors and ourselves.  We pray especially for: add your own petitions

We praise You, LORD, from the depths of our souls

We will live and act as the mercy of Christ  

~ Most Gracious Parent, Creator of Our Entire Human Family, alleviate the pain of those burdened with serious illness, addiction, and/or emotional distress, and let us bring a breath of compassion to those who give them care.  We pray especially for: add your own petitions

We praise You, LORD, from the depths of our souls

We will live and act as the mercy of Christ  

~ Most Gracious Parent, Creator of Our Entire Human Family, we lift up those who are bowed by grief while, in the midst of sorrow, we give joyful thanksgiving for Your welcome of our loved ones into Your eternal kingdom. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

We praise You, LORD, from the depths of our souls

We will live and act as the mercy of Christ  

~ Most Gracious Parent, Creator of Our Entire Human Family, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt intentions and petitions, silently or aloud…

We praise You, LORD, from the depths of our souls

We will live and act as the mercy of Christ  

~ Most Gracious Parent, Creator of Our Entire Human Family, we look to those appointed to lead us in worship and the care of Your Church to tell us of the former things of You that have come to pass, show us by example of prayer and preaching how to live in this life, and walk with us to discover the new things to come that You declare through Your Word.  We pray especially for: add your own petitions

We praise You, LORD, from the depths of our souls

We will live and act as the mercy of Christ  

The Celebrant adds: God of the Hungry, the Privileged, and All Others, grant us the awareness of Your ever-present breath and spirit as we consciously seek to be fully Yours in every day. Help us to show, that within the power and glory that is You, You remain the Every Day God for the entire Human Family. We ask through the mercy of Jesus our Christ and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, who live and reign with You as One God, everyday, always, and forever.   Amen.

*2nd Reading A READING FROM THE WORD OF MOTHER THERESA:

Whether you are a Hindu, a Muslim or a Christian, how you live your life is the proof that you are fully God's or not. Loving must be as normal to us as living and breathing, day after day until death. To understand this and practice it we need much prayer, the kind that unites us with God and overflows continually upon others. Our works of charity are nothing but the overflow of our love of God from within. Therefore, the one who is most united with God loves her neighbor most.

[From Everything Starts With Prayer, White Cloud Press, Ashland, OR, 1998]

* The Season of Creation originated in the Anglican Church of South Africa in 2008 and is designed for us to explore our faith from a Creation perspective. We are to realize our place in the order of God’s creating and to see and act upon the need to care for our entire life-support system - the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil in which we grow our crops - not merely humanity, but our total environment, as it pertains to ALL life. 

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