Prayers to the Lover of Souls

Responsive prayers by Thomas Robb, appropriate for use on any Sunday in the Green Season.

Lord, you are our delight.  Our trust is in you alone.
Quiet our busy thoughts. Let us listen for God’s Voice.

(Silence.)

Holy One, we praise you and thank you for the shepherds of the Body of Christ, clergy and lay alike — the many in our parish who work tirelessly for us.
Bless all who pray and work to help us on the way.

Author of Peace, the nations cry havoc.  Destruction, disaster, and violence lay waste to your people.
Teach us to understand those whom we might call the “other,” the “foreigner,” the “infidel.”

Holy Wisdom, our nation struggles to find its way.
Lead us out of this wilderness.  May wisdom and selfless courage abide.  May all live in peace in this land you have given us.

Lover of Souls, you weep for the lonely, the homeless, and the lost, who are everywhere we look …and so seldom see.
Let us always be quick to be the friend—the ears to truly hear, the shoulders on which to cry, the hands to lift up.

God of Glory, you call our beloved dead and the dying into your presence.  We lift up particularly those we now name aloud, or mourn quietly in our hearts.

(Pause for names.)

God of Life, dry our tears.
Grant all the grace of a good and peaceful death, where we dance and sing with the One who loves us.

Creator of all that is, thank you for our community.  We are so very blest.
Thank you for all of those “others”—friends we’ve not yet met.

Thank you for the High Holy Days of our Jewish sisters and brothers—our elders in the faith.
Thank you for the mercy of new beginnings.

Thank you for new opportunities to love each other.
Help us live in the Kingdom now.

Jesus our Savior, you have prepared a feast for us—a gift of your very self.
Now let us go up to the Altar of God.

Let us never forget to keep this feast.
Amen.

These responsive prayers by Thomas Robb were first used on October 6, 2013 (Proper 22, Year C) at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Port Townsend, Washington. You can see the readings for the day on The Lectionary Page.

I especially like the variations in how God is addressed flowing through the petitions. And as always, I appreciate Tom’s simple and direct language in prayer.