From the grain of the field and from the fruit of the vine you continue to feed us, O Sustainer.  Having received the bread of life and the cup of grace in our community this past Sunday, you addressed our brokenness and have given us strength to go out in your world and feed others who do not know of your mercy.  Without your divine energy regularly implanted within us, we could not venture to reach out to those who are difficult to love, to speak a word of kindness to those who question our motives and may even hold us in contempt.  And though we often fumble, we believe you know of our deep desire to do for others what you have done for us.  Continue to feed us your mysteries, we pray, that the outpouring of your love through Christ will be made manifest in our lives.

Enduring One, hear our prayer.

As each day of this week unfolds, we ask that your mercy would accompany us, for you know how swiftly we can make that wrong turn called discouragement. There are those detours that haunt us daily: our worries about family members and friends, the news of bloodshed and atrocities across the world, reports of famine and needless deaths of the innocents, the deep divide within our nation’s leadership, the growing number of drug addictions, and the multitudes suffering natural disasters.  We often feel our efforts are so paltry in the face of these complex situations; but save us from despair, we pray, for your love can permeate every circumstance and every heart.  Place your hands upon our hearts as we move through each tomorrow we are given, that we will always trust in your promise to watch over our going out and our coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Enduring One, hear our prayer.

And we confess that most tenacious temptation – our desire to please ourselves.   Still that voice within us — that voice that mimics the noise of the marketplace, whispering that we need more and more of the world’s goods. You have filled us to overflowing and have blessed us in ways we do not merit. So let us be content with what we have and give praise to the Giver of all good gifts!

Enduring One, hear our prayer.

And because you are the Author of our Faith, whose only Son endured all things for our sake, we are bold to turn to you with our joys and with our burdens.  

• Thankful an ill brother-in-law is home from rehab
• Member is grateful for her new solid employment position
• Family celebrates the baptism of their young daughter
• Gratitude for good report following evaluation at Vanderbilt
• A brother’s surgery went well on Monday at Vanderbilt
• Thanksgiving for presentation by our Youth & Children’s Choirs
• Member thankful for recent eye treatment
• Family celebrates the birth of healthy baby boy
• Family grateful for an opportunity to live abroad next year
• Family grateful for prayers: home purchase is final
• Thanksgiving for the Christian witness of two members who will be buried this week
• Couple celebrating their wedding anniversary this week
• Thanksgiving an arm infection has almost completely healed
• Prayers for an end to the horror & violence in Ukraine
• Three member families who are grieving deaths this week
• Courage for 4 church members with Parkinson’s 
• Lift up our high school seniors & their families this season
• Prayers that a pathology report is clear
• Prayers for couple seeking financial security
• Please pray for 5 persons on the heart of a member
• Singer with a voice malady, healing of illness & depression 
• Prayers for a young son whose father died of an overdose  
• Continued prayers: friend injured in accident, remains in ICU
• Healing for two women with untreatable eye disease 
• Correct diagnosis for mother with heart condition
• Cancer patient exposed to Covid, pray that she is not infected
• Young man seeking work in college athletics
• Ease of pain for son awaiting shoulder surgery 
• An uncle & grandmother in hospice care & their families
• An ill mother-in-law & concerned family, for recovery 
• A grandson with a difficult home life
• Prayers for all taking part in a wedding on Saturday 

We thank you, Enduring One, for knitting us together as the body of Christ and for accepting our prayers that are offered in the name of your Son. May your Spirit continue its sustaining flow within us and through us until we reach those gates above, where we shall joyfully serve together with Jesus himself.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew,

That I may love what thou dost love, and do what thou wouldst do. 

Breathe on me, Breath of God. Breathe on us, Breath of God. Life-giving God, we are thankful for the image in our scriptures of Jesus breathing on the disciples and offering peace. We remember your breathing over the waters and bringing forth creation; breathing into humanity as you formed us in your image. O God we pray that as we inhale, we would take in your grace and love and all that is good. We desire to feel your presence in our very beings; at our core; in our hearts. Breathe on us the transforming breath of Jesus; the transformative breath… We pray for a calmness when we are facing tense situations and difficult conversations. Breathe on us.

We pray for peace in our world; breathe on our leaders and those around the world who make decisions based on maps and land and power, not on the hearts and wellbeing of people. Breathe on them; fill them with life anew. We pray for a steadiness of heart as Christians as we make decisions.  We pray for an abundance of your Spirit as we read your scriptures and seek guidance for our living. Breathe on us.

We pray for your church, O God. Breathe on your church – for ministers and laity everywhere who strive to build up the body of Christ and your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. We especially pray for those young ones who were confirmed on Sunday in our congregation as they seek to walk in the way of Christ. And bless, we pray, each one who has recently come forward to be baptized and to become a new members of our congregation. Guide them to find here nurture in faith, true fellowship, and a place of joyful service. Breathe on us; fill us with life anew.

Spirit of Life, as you hav delivered healing and revived hope to so many, we bring our prayers of praise this day.  And may your divine energy move within us and through us, Holy Lord, that we may become conduits of holy healing to these others who wait for your breath of renewal:

• Gratitude for prayers: member recovers from successful hip surgery
• Thanksgiving that a niece’s home has sold
• Couple celebrates 40 years of marriage
• Daughter thankful for her mother’s successful surgery
• Prayers appreciated: no sign of cancer cells following transplant
• Prayers of gratitude: a daughter’s home has sold
• Widow feels blessed in a new home closer to family
• One expresses gratitude for support of congregation
• Gratitude: 2 families steadily recovering from Covid infections
• Parents thankful for a son’s renewed effort to combat drug use
• Ovarian cancer surgery completed with good results – grateful for prayers
• One grateful for a restorative short vacation with friend
• Thanksgiving that a friend’s cancer cells have been contained
• Prayers for an end to the horror & violence in Ukraine
• Prayers for husband with Parkinson’s – increasing difficulties
• A father with Parkinson’s & his family; for a workable treatment plan
• Easing of stress: family awaiting a home closing
• Prayers for proper diagnosis- member returns to Vanderbilt Thursday
• Professional singer with a voice malady, for healing & direction
• Proper treatment for a brother with cancer near bladder 
• Elderly neighbor injured in car accident, now on ventilator 
• Hospitalized mother & wisdom for family making decisions  
• Please pray for healing: two women with untreatable eye disease 
• Correct diagnosis for mother with heart condition
• Healing young granddaughter having seizures
• Young man seeking work in college athletics
• Son with shoulder injury, comfort as he awaits surgery
• An uncle in hospice care & peace for his family standing by
• Prayers that a young son recently exposed does not contract Covid
• Prayers for anxious couple awaiting news of pregnancy
• An ill mother-in-law & concerned family, for recovery 
• Healing for nephew in cancer treatment  

Inhaling and exhaling is such a simple act, an involuntary act; yet without it we would die. As we breathe in, O God, may we remember that we are raised in new life with Christ. May we live into that life.

Breathe on us breath of God; fill us with life anew.

That we would love what thou wouldst love; and do what thou wouldst do.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Hail thee Festival Day! It was just before dawn when the glow of the Easter moon pulled our eyes upward — the first to disclose that darkness was fleeing – the first to whisper that new life was coming into the world.  Praises that we did not miss the dawn of your day of triumph, Faithful Lord! Praises that you appeared to us in the faces of so many blessed ones around us! Praises that your light penetrated our marred exteriors and pierced our souls!  “Shine on,” you seemed to say, “that this holy light will pour out forever through you!”Ah, such is the love that cleanses and refines, that erases the sins of yesterday and points toward tomorrow, that ever offers a new beginning!

Yes, O God, our hearts became wings on Easter as your splendor lifted us to hope of heaven! Yet we know many who continue to bear the wounds of Good Friday and remain locked in the dark tomb of pain: the ill of mind and body, the forgotten, the poor and the lonely, the dispirited and victims of terror.  We remember those times when you resurrected the dead parts within ourselves and offered us another way of living; and so we pray for those who are searching for a glimmer of relief, especially these we name in our hearts before you: . . . . . . . . . . Give them also, Father of Mercy, a new way of living, and remember, as well, these members of our church family who bring earnest prayers this day: 

• Thanksgiving for a first grandchild, expected in a few weeks
• Grateful for our church musicians and music directors
• Gratitude for young persons who will be confirmed on Sunday
• Couple is celebrating a major employment promotion
• Gratitude that a family member has agreed to help with caregiving
• Family thankful that daughter is home after many months in rehab
• Thanksgiving: work of the Holy Spirit throughout a memorial service
• A father celebrates his daughter’s graduation from college
• Ukrainians suffering grave losses; for an end to the violence
• Lift up member having hip surgery on Thursday, April 21
• Prayers for husband with Parkinson’s – increasing difficulties
• A father with Parkinson’s and his family; for a workable treatment plan
• Please pray for two families, both awaiting home closings
• Healing for a professional singer with a voice malady 
• Remember a brother at Vanderbilt this week, bladder cancer
• Continued prayers for member continuing to struggle with pneumonia 
• Solace for nieces grieving their mother’s untimely death 
• Please pray for a member with debilitating eye disease
• Healing of one’s severe depression and anxiety
• Correct diagnosis for mother with heart condition
• Healing young granddaughter having seizures
• Dear sister recovering from massive strokes, for improvement
• Young man seeking work in college athletics
• New treatment plan for one at Vanderbilt for consultation
• Please pray for one having a 2nd employment interview on April 25
• An uncle in hospice care & his family standing by
• Peace for two overwhelmed with responsibilities
• Healing of cousin in ICU, that his kidneys and heart may heal
• Prayers for anxious couple awaiting news of pregnancy
• Young wife with cancer, that recent treatment may help her recover
• An ill mother-in-law and concerned family, for recovery 
• Safe travel for member returning from NYC; safety for member in Ireland
• Healing for a nephew in radiation treatment
• Relative in treatment for ovarian cancer; longtime friend with cancer
• Prayers for a mother beginning proton therapy for a malignancy
• Adult son suffering a shoulder injury

It is true, O Sacred One, that we remain unsure of ourselves, too often afraid to stretch out our hand to clasp your own. Make firm our trust, we pray, so that we may become true Easter people, willingly releasing everything that hinders our walk with you, even our very lives.  Remind us, in whatever way you will, that what has been lost, you will reclaim; what has been harmed, you will remake; and all that is unwell, you will restore. These prayers we lift up the name of the Resurrected One, whose love was and is too deep for words: 

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.