God of Love, God of Peace, God of Joy,
Most powerful, most near, most good.
You are the mighty, everlasting God.
You know the end from the beginning,
and all the details in between.
You know our hearts, individually and corporately.
You see both the big picture,
and the details that we don’t yet see or understand.
In this year of constant changes, unfamiliarity, anxiety, and chaos,
pandemics, hurricanes, droughts, and storms,
You have been unwavering and unchanging
in Your love and in Your presence.
You are the same – yesterday, today, and forever.
You know our needs, and You grant inner peace.
Thank You. Thank You for Your unconditional love
that is not dependent on us or anything we try to do,
but only upon You and Your sacrifice on our behalf.
Thank You for loving us before we loved You.
We praise You for the many ways You fill our souls with what we need:
You are a God of agape, a God of love.
When we feel alone, You are ever-present.
When we feel unworthy, You wrap us in a deep love that knows no end.
Forgive us for when we are in the habit of rejecting one another,
or of rejecting our own selves.
You cherish each of us as Your children,
no matter how imperfect and fallen we may be.
We pray for those who long to know Your love,
and we pray that You can use us
to offer love even to our hard-to-love neighbor.
You are a God of shalom, a God of peace.
When we feel torn apart and divided by the conflict of the world,
You give us a peace that transcends all understanding.
You make us whole.
Our hope can be found in Your calming Spirit.
Forgive us for when we fall into the trap of believing
we should look down upon, or separate ourselves, from one another.
Although we cannot understand the big picture,
although we cannot understand why some things happen,
we can rest assured knowing that
You have all things within Your grasp.
Your love will undeniably conquer our brokenness.
You are a God of joy, and with that we have hope.
Allow us to become instruments of Your joy,
instruments of Your peace,
in a world that so desperately seeks
the Good News and hope You alone can offer.
When we focus our hearts, our minds, and our spirits on You,
we welcome the peace of Christ,
which transcends all our understanding and inclination,
recognizing it is what we and the world truly lacks.
Give us ways to refrain from
the busyness that will put us on edge and off center.
Slow us down, Lord.
Ease the pounding of our hearts
by quieting our minds.
Steady our harried pace
with a vision of the eternal reach of time.
Slow us down, Father.
Amidst the confusions of our days,
break the tension of our nerves
with the soothing stillness of Your presence.
Slow us down,
and remind us each day
that the race is not always won by the swift.
There is more to life than increasing its speed.
Turn our eyes upward to help us to seek You, and You alone.
Lift from us our need to achieve all that we can be,
and instead, surrender to what You can be in us and through us.
We have made our needs and desires known to You, O God;
We have asked, and know You will supply.
You will bring goodness and mercy, all of our days,
for Your peace surpasses all need and understanding.
Guard us now and always with Christ Jesus our Lord, the Prince of Peace,
who taught us all to pray by saying these 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.
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