Pastoral Prayer for August 11, 2024

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

Please allow his words to become your own.

Sometimes, Lord,

it just seems to be too much:

too much violence, too much fear;

too much of​​ demands and problems;

too much of broken dreams and broken lives;

too much of war and ruin and death;

too much of words lobbed in to explode

and leaving shredded hearts and lacerated souls.

Sometimes the very air seems scorched

by threats and rejection and decay

until there is nothing

but to inhale pain

and exhale confusion.

Too much of darkness, Lord,

too much of cruelty

and selfishness

and indifference. . .

Or is it too​​ little,

too little of compassion,

too little of courage,

of daring,

of​​ persistence,

of sacrifice;

too little of music

and laughter

and celebration?

O God,

make of me some light

for these dark times,

some illumination for my brothers and sisters

who are looking for gladness and hope,

that, being light for them,

I may also​​ be given light

from its source in you.

Amen.