God, who, like a Father, tends and spares us,
and who, like a Mother, gently bears us,
we approach you with the confidence of children who are fully loved,
confident that we will never be turned away.
The psalmist has written:
“Let all who are faithful offer prayer to you,
at a time of distress the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them.”
And so we pray.
Constant and unchanging God, we are living in a season of change.
It is unsettling, for we have been blessed with a stable society and culture,
with limited changes and limited uncertainties.
And now everything seems to be shifting with each new day.
We have forgotten that you are the only constant –
our Rock, our Fortress, our Deliverer.
We pray today for for all who are discouraged, anxious, fearful, confused
by the changes swirling around us.
We mistakenly thought that we could control everything.
We forgot that our lives are but a breath, that we are dust.
But you never forgot that.
For you took dust from this earth in your own hands
and formed us as an expression of your love.
You know how fragile we are.
You made us oh so fragile, O God,
and then you promised never to leave us.
In charity and compassion, as loving Father and Mother, you formed us,
and promised your eternal presence;
so that at the time of distress – when buildings crumble in Asia,
when the stock market falls and our financial security is in question,
when every institution seems to be under attack –
You are Eternal Presence.
You are a hiding place for us, you surround us with deliverance.
And that truth has not changed.
You sent prophets throughout the ages to warn us
not to put our trust in governments or wealth or power or control;
for such things are temporary crutches at best and idols at their worst.
Perhaps we did not think that the prophet’s warning applied to us.
Let all who are faithful put their trust in YOU,
You are the one who ransoms, heals, restores and forgives.
May you extend grace and favor to those in distress.
May you be light in the darkness.
May you be our Rock when the ground shifts beneath us.
And when this earthly kingdom in which we live grows difficult,
remind us that the kingdom of heaven is among us and always has been,
and that has not changed.
We pray in the name of the One who came to reveal a new kingdom,
a new way of living, a new hope, even Jesus Christ,
the One who taught us to pray saying,
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.