Prayer

Forgiving God,

We pray for your help in healing the divisions we face today. All across your family on earth, make us more willing to own up to the wrongs we have committed against each other, to express real sorrow for the hurts we have caused, and then to go further and seek restoration. Between us as persons, among us peoples, and as one family before you, help us advance a spirit of contrition that leads to genuine forgiveness, healing, and wholeness. Amen.

Prayer

God of our breakthroughs,

We confess there are times when we allow our problems to grow out of proportion. Gripped by worry and fear, we wind up feeling stuck and unsure about how to move forward. For all those who are waiting for a breakthrough today, we ask you to give them perspective and empower them to cast their cares upon you. Use us as loving neighbors, to do our part in sharing their burden and helping them find new ways forward. Amen.

Prayer

Compassionate One,

Every day we encounter people carrying tremendous burdens—in mind, body, and spirit. We unite as a ministry in response to those burdens and strive to reveal your great compassion for all those who are suffering or otherwise vulnerable. Today, we ask you to inspire each one of our associates with an even deeper sense of their call to embody compassion, that we might become better caregivers and more understanding of those we have the privilege of serving. In your name, we pray. Amen.

Prayer

Loving God,

It is an interesting happenstance that Ash Wednesday should fall on the same date as Valentine’s Day this year. Yet in some ways it is also appropriate, for you invite us to a vision of love that stretches us to the very limits of our humanity. The love you have shown us and call us to extend to our neighbors is a love that sees our frailty and weakness and chooses to respond with mercy, goodness, compassion. As your Church remembers the frailty of our humanity and our need for your mercy today, enable us by your spirit to reflect more of your merciful love to others who are weak and weary around us. Amen.

Prayer

God of true progress,

We have good reason to be thankful for the comforts afforded by technological development. Yet we have also seen the way technologies can aggravate existing inequalities while creating new conflicts, depending on how such tools are designed, programmed, and distributed across our society. Help us as a ministry to remain champions of genuine technological progress, insisting that all the gifts of human ingenuity should be used to advance the common good and to improve the quality of life for all people. Amen.

Prayer

God our creator,

As Black History Month continues, we take time to remember, celebrate, and honor the fundamental contributions of black Americans to our culture and nation. As a ministry, we are committed to embodying a spirit of solidarity and we take responsibility for growing in wisdom, learning to manifest more of your goodness by celebrating the uniqueness of all people and respecting the dignity of our creation before you. With gratitude for so many black Americans who have shown us the way, Amen.

Prayer

God of the new,

In your holy word we are told that your power working in us can do far beyond anything we can ask or imagine. May it be so today! Give us courage to trust you with more room in our hearts and our lives, that you might fill us with your empowering spirit to partner with you even more effectively, reaching more lives with your healing compassion. Stretch our imaginations to welcome new opportunities to impact our communities with health and well-being. Amen.