Collects and Prayers - January 17, 2010 - The Second Sunday After Epiphany

Greeting
Leader: We come with awe before God
People: as One Body with many members.
Leader: We bring so many diverse gifts,
People: activated by the one and same Spirit.
Leader: United and uniting—this is our charge.
People: Without fear or doubt, we offer our praise.

Collect
O God, our hearts ache with Haiti
For lives lost
Suddenly
For families swallowed
By rubble and earth
For home and hearth gone
And memories forever changed
In an instant.

O God, our eyes look to you
For healing
For comfort
For hope
For direction.

O God,
Our arms reach out
To do all that we can
In whatever ways that we can
For as long as is needed

For neighbors and friends
and for all who work with you today to restore life and hope,
we pray.

Take our worship this morning, and may it glorify you, and restore life within us, that we might be your agents for healing and hope in this world.

Amen.

Prayers of the People:
God of Abraham, and Isaac and Ishmael, today we pray for peace. We pray with thanksgiving for all the ways that you are bringing about peace and love on earth through peoples of faith. For all who work with you to bring down walls that divide, and build friendships that unite…
Lord, we pray for peace,
Hear our prayer.

Today, we pray for peace. We pray for the relationship between Christians and Muslims around the world. May Christians cling to your ways, Lord Jesus. May we be more concerned with being good than being right, and loving all than being loved. And may Muslims be blessed with a continued call to work with you for peace, which their faith beckons them to do.
Lord, among Muslims and Christians, we pray for peace,
Hear our prayer.

Today, we pray for peace, especially for the people of Haiti. Weave out of these terrible happenings wonders of goodness and grace. Surround those who have been affected by tragedy with a sense of your present love, and hold them in faith. Though they are lost in grief, may you find them and be their comfort. Guide us as a church to find ways of providing assistance that heal wounds and provide hope. Help us to remember that when one of your children suffers we all suffer;
Lord, for our brothers and sisters in Haiti, we pray for peace,
Hear our prayer.

Today, we pray for peace, especially to be among those who stand shoulder to shoulder to offer relief and hope to all who suffer. Especially today as people of all faiths and no faith work to restore order and offer life in Haiti, we pray that you would pour your Spirit upon them that they might be agents of your healing on earth, even as it is in heaven.
Lord, for relief workers who dig through rubble, and those they seek to find, and those who wait for loved ones to be found, we pray for peace,
Hear our prayer.

Today, we pray for peace. With gratitude that the mission team from Horne Memorial United Methodist Church in Clayton who were in Port-Au-Prince at the time of the earthquake are well. We also pray with thanksgiving for The Reverend Sam Dixon, the national chair of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, who was found in the rubble after 55 hours of entrapment with only minor injuries.
For those who recover from injuries, and those who treat them, Lord we pray for peace.
Hear our prayer.

Today, we pray for peace to be upon all those whom we name aloud before you and one another.
Lord, we pray for peace,
Hear our prayer.

Thank you for hearing these and all our prayers, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.