2nd Quarter - Year A- Issue of WorshipAid
March, April and May (2002)

Prayers for May 12, 2002

7th Sunday of Easter

Invocation

O God, in these times of fear and doubt, in these times of abundance and unsureness, help us put You, God and Creator first. Help us to learn to put things in Your hands, help us to turn things over to You in our confusion. O God, as Your Son taught us to do so long ago, help us to put You in control by simply realizing You already are in control. In celebration of that we come to worship in Jesus name. Amen.

Prayer of Confession

O God, we confess that when it comes to not thinking about ourselves we fail. We just naturally put ourselves first. Lord, help us see beyond ourselves. Help us learn to see beyond just me.

O God, we want to be at the center of our families and our work, keep us from thinking of being central. Instead let us think of being helpful. Keep us from wanting to be in control and instead be willing to empower others. Remove us from being in the center and replace the center with Your Son Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Dedication

Help us to see beyond this moment and instead see what our contributions over the years. Help us to give not for this moment, but again and again in hopes that these gifts will make a difference to many lives and many things. Help us Lord, not be short sighted givers, but long sighted investors in Your Kingdom. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer

O Lord, it is so hard not to think beyond ourselves. We keep wondering how you did it, to put everyone first and to put yourselves last. O Lord, help us to put just one or two others ahead of ourselves.

But come to think of it Lord, just when we learn to do so with our children, they suddenly need to be on their own. Suddenly we can put ourselves back in first place, and we don't want to be. O God, help us to learn not only to put others in front of ourselves, but to trust others and keep faith with others in our lives.

O God, we know we want to be the center of the universe, make us grateful that being the Center of the Universe is Your job and not ours, that being in control in Your Job and not ours. O Lord, make us grateful that the real center of the universe can also quietly be the center of our lives.

Give us the courage to not be at the center of our own little universe, but put you in the center of our little universe. Amen.