January 15, 2023
Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend

Offered by Nanette Sawyer, Associate Pastor

God of all creation, you have gathered us, protected us, and cared for us. You have revealed to us your will and your vision for justice and true peace among people.

Through all of our trials and tribulations you have been with us.

Through our weariness you have given us strength.

In our despair you have given us hope.

In our grief you have given us comfort.

You have brought us this far, and we pray that you bring us through the next step, to a new day, to a healing of our bodies, our relationships, our communities, and our world.

Fill our hearts with the light of your love.

Fill our bodies with the healing of your grace.

Strengthen our resolve to do what is right, for we know that “the time is always right to do what is right” (Martin Luther King Jr.).

Be with all those who are injured or struggling with illness. Heal them in your own way. Heal us, as we struggle to accept what cannot be changed, and give us the courage to change what can. Give us wisdom in discernment and perseverance in action.
Make us brave and steadfast in our work for justice. Show us possibility where we have felt stuck, overwhelmed, uncertain. Use us in the healing of your world and in the loving of your people.

Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, we lift our prayers joining our voices to pray as Jesus taught us, saying, Our Father …

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church