Pastoral Prayer
April 12, 2015
Broadway Baptist Church
Rev. Chris Caldwell
O God who forms and shapes us, We come to give thanks,
For because of you, we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.
You have breathed into us the breath of life
You have stamped upon us your image of love.
God who protects us and blesses us, We come to give thanks, for
You have sheltered us from the rains
You have warmed us with the sun
You have granted us eyes to see beauty
And hearts to know that not all beauty can be seen.
God who steers us and prods us, we are each your unique child
We are the child just beginning to understand the words of the hymns and the meanings of the prayers
We are the mature follower, who comes in the hope that today’s worship will help them to make more sense of the struggles they endure
We are the teenager who is learning that nobody is perfect, and yet that everybody is called to forgive
We are the newcomer to Broadway, excited to be on the path of discipleship, and seeking fellow disciples with whom to share joy and struggles
We are the seeker wanting more out of life than a paycheck, who has come searching for a more fulfilling route through life.
God who never forgets us, we come praying also for those who are not here
For the child who has never heard the name of Jesus
For the elderly neighbor who has no community of faith to pray for them
For the teenager who is learning how imperfect he or she is and yet does not know the way to find forgiveness and healing
For people all around who, in the words of the poet, “Lay waste their powers” by “getting and spending,” who have not found deeper meaning in life, who have not found grace
God of mercy, we have come asking you to forgive us
For not praying as faithfully as we should for the people who share these pews with us today
For not praying as faithfully as we should for those who have not been inside a church for years
And especially we ask you to forgive us for feeling so little sense of loss or sadness, when hundreds of thousands in our city every Sunday zip past churches just like this, never knowing that inside they just might find joy and meaning in life they have never known before.