O God, we bring You the concerns we hold in our minds,
and the heartaches we carry deep within our being.
Sift out these prayers,
and let all that is good align itself
with Your love for Your world,
Your creation, Your people.
For the victims of accident, war, disease,
violence, greed and natural disasters.
Let there be hope.
For those who bear their wounds in private,
those ignored by the mass media:
the forgotten minorities suffering oppression,
the humble people who suffer constantly and die obscurely.
Let there be hope.
Leader: Lord, in Your mercy
All: Hear our prayer
O God, we bring before You the Church.
For places where there is persecution;
for church leaders who confront evil authority,
and for our brothers and sisters
who remain faithful through hardship and death.
Let there be hope.
For the political parties we don’t vote for,
leaders we do not trust,
high-profile people we dislike,
and work colleagues who exasperate us.
Let there be hope.
For our neighbors
whose sorrows we don’t know about,
friends with secret wounds and sorrows,
relatives with temptations and anxieties that they hide from us.
Let there be hope.
Leader: Lord, in Your mercy
All: Hear our prayer
O God, we bring before You
church members whom we do not really know.
For those we can’t understand,
some who annoy us,
and others whose beliefs and values
vary from our own.
Let there be hope.
Creator of the universe,
You made the world in beauty,
and restore all things in glory
through Your son, Jesus Christ.
For all places where Your image is still disfigured
by poverty, sickness, selfishness, war and greed,
may the new creation in Jesus Christ
appear in justice, love, and peace.
Let there be hope.
Receive these prayers, O God,
and transform us through them,
that we may have eyes to see and hearts to understand
not only what You do on our behalf,
but what You call us to do
so that Your Kingdom will come to fruition.
All this we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.