Pastoral Prayer for August 18, 2024

Our pastoral prayer this morning comes to us from Ted Loder.

Please allow his words to become your own.

Loving God,

thank you for all that I forget are gifts,​​ 

not rights.

Forgive me for all the​​ grievances

I remember too well.

Save me from the self-pity,

the self-seeking,

the fat-heartedness

which is true poverty.

Guide me into the hard ways of sacrifice

which are just and loving.

Make me wide-eyed for beauty,

and for my neighbor’s need and​​ goodness;

wide-willed for peace-making,

and for confronting power

with the call to compassion.

Make me wide-hearted for love

and for the unloved,

who are the hardest to touch

and need it the most.

Breathe into me the restlessness and courage

to make something new,

something saving,

and something true

that I may understand what it is to rejoice.

Amen.