Pastoral Prayer
By Rev.Elizabeth Wrightman
May 8, 2022
Loving God we ask that we, like the man who came to the house and prayed for the little boy, might ‘be with the one who came to give us joy’. {That takes spending time with you; intentionally living daily with your presence. Our word for that is prayer….}
Help us to be messengers of your joy, for others.
Make us a sign of your consolation and of your peace. On this day we celebrate our mothers, and in some cases also, of the gift of being mothers, may we also celebrate nurturing wherever we have had the gift of giving it. May we have gratitude for generativity, (the helping life to thrive)….wherever we have been a part of it; whoever we are………May we remember what our mothers gave to us, or would have liked to heal and comfort in us…….and pass it along. May we be messengers and caretakers of hope. May we walk as children of the light, as the letter to the Ephesians calls us out to be. As our mothers raised and helped raise us, lets us raise up and help to raise up others.
Bless dear Lord the poor and hungry, and show us where we belong in their story. Bless the oppressed and left out, and show us where we can be more like Jesus, in making common cause with them. Bless the weak and powerless, and speak to us through your Holy Spirit of where we might show up in their lives; what that might look like day to day.
Jesus compares himself to a mother hen at one point (!) who longs to protect the people. Give us mother hen instincts, on this Mother’s Day, to protect those in prison, and/or or unjustly accused….those with illness, physical or emotional, and those who walk in darkness, or in loneliness. Bless the victims of war and violence. Especially we lift up the mothers of Ukraine; fleeing invasion, sometimes with child, sometimes trying to feed, shelter and protect children…mothers in fear over grown sons caught up in the fighting. Guide us each in our roles, as we stand alongside them in thoughts and prayers.
We pray in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Amen