Pastoral prayer for Sunday January 27, 2013

Luke 4: 14-21 CEB

God of love and mercy,

Be with us,

continually remind us that you have brought good news to the poor,

That all that we hold captive has been released,

that the blind now see,

the oppressed are liberated.

Continue to come to us, be with us,

let us hear again that in you all this and more has been fulfilled. 

Walk with us as we seek to live lives of meaning and purpose

Touch our hearts that we will feel your gentle tug towards holiness and wholeness.

Help us to more fully live as your disciples,

willing to be different,

to proclaim good news,

to let go of what is finished,

to recover that which redeems,

to cease from all that oppresses.

Lord, ever remind us that in you, all this and more has been fulfilled.  You have come and lived among us that we will know the way. 

Meet us in our worries and fears, ease the aches of loneliness, regret and disappointment,

Lord be with all who are suffering, comfort those who grieve.

Fill us with a spirit of hope,

grant us courage to act,

give us peace;

a moment of quiet to remember, 

that in loving God and one another,

we join with you in bringing the kingdom of God, ever closer into being.

Let us now pray together as Jesus taught us:

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