Pastoral Prayer on John 6:51-58

Holy God:

You have taken flesh in order to be with us, to dwell with us, to be God with us.  You walked with Adam in the cool of the day.  You walked with Abraham through a lifetime of wanderings.  You have shown us in so many ways that your desire is to be with us and to share life with you.

We are tempted to make our relationship with you about so many other things--Sometimes we think that what you want most is our good behavior.  Sometimes we think that you want us to be busy and to do good works for you.  Sometimes we just get so distracted by the many things we must do that we drift from you.  Sometimes we have areas of our lives that embarrass us or things we think we can handle better than you, so we push you out.  Sometimes we have gotten the idea that our relationship with you is just one compartment of our lives, the religious part, and we set you aside after we leave church.

And yet, you who made the earth and heavens, you who redeemed the whole earth, you who are everlasting and always--You want to share life with us.  You want to abide with us and be in every part of our lives.  So help us to open ourselves to you in this hour.  Help us to allow every part of us to be completely infused with your love and presence.  Help us to also be completely in you--let our whole lives be enveloped in your grace and love.  Help us to enter into your heart.

We remember those for whom you asked us to pray--Bless those in authority over us.  Bless the work of your church in the world.  Bless our enemies.  Redeem the lost, heal the sick, comfort those who mourn.  As we abide in you and you abide in us, allow your work in the world to be done through our hands.

Amen.

Pastoral Prayer based on John 6:35, 41-51

Holy God:

With the Psalmist we say, “My soul clings to the dust, revive me according to your word.”  You have set eternity in our hearts, and yet we so often put our nose to the grindstone, go through the motions of the many tasks we must do, and forget all you have set before us and all you have put within us.

So today, remind us that we will spend forever with your Son, that we will spend forever and for always feasting at a heavenly banquet, a celebration that will know no end, gathered around a table in which all your children will come together as loving brothers and sisters—our friends, our families, those we have never met and yet admired, even our enemies, people from every tribe and nation and tongue.

Help us to get the party started now, today, in this moment.  Right now, we strain to see how you will renew us, because we are broken in so many ways.  Forgive us our sins.  Free us to live joyfully and lovingly.  We strain to see how you will renew the face of the earth when the earth is groaning under the burden of war, disease, animosity among nations, ecological concerns, the oppression of unjust governments, widespread poverty, and so many other challenges.  But you have put a vision in our hearts of a day when the kingdoms of this earth will become the kingdoms of our God and king.  Bring that day closer.  Help us to give our lives to the high purpose of making your dream real in the world.

Lift us up to live as people whose citizenship is in heaven.  Keep us grounded as people who serve a Lord who loved the world enough to give himself for its redemption.  

We have tasted of your love.  We have tasted of your goodness.  We thank you for all you have done, for all you have shown us.  Open our hearts to your word, your spirit, and your presence in this hour of worship.  Open our hearts to each other.  Open our eyes to see an open heaven.

Amen.

Pastoral Prayer (based on John 6: I Am the Bread of Life)

Holy God:

Each time we come to you we come with many needs. We need sustenance, we need clothing, we need
food, we need friendship and companionship and love. We need to feel appreciated. We need to feel
as if we are capable in our work and valued in our contribution to those around us.

You tell us to share our needs with you. You tell us to ask for the fulfillment of our needs. You ask us to
talk to you about the many hungers that we want so desperately to be filled.

And yet, when we get what we want, we only feel satisfied for a moment. We often fail to offer thanks.
We move on to the next thing we feel we must have.

So help us to come to you first and foremost seeking to have you, to have your love, to have a sense of
your presence. We need many things, but we so often fail to realize that we need you most. Often, it
is only when we lose all else that we feel you closest and have a the strongest sense that you are all we
truly need.

Be with those we love. Be with those who mourn. Heal the sick. Bring peace to the nations. Inspire
us in our work as a community of faith and help us to reach our community with your Gospel and your
love. Bless our nation and help us as a people to be a people of love and justice and holiness.

But most of all, give us yourself. By dying on a cross for us, you have shown us that you have given us
all, that you have given your very self to us. Help us to believe it and to live as if it is true. Amen.