Prayer for a late Summer Sunday

Dear Lord Jesus, this summer is rapidly disappearing. The locusts cry out during the daylight hours. The lightening bugs have gone. The wild flowers are the hardy, dry plants that can endure the torpid heat of the 'dog days' of summer. The future-stressed marketers have long ago forgotten the summer. Some are even treading on the verge of the sacred season of Christmas. We all have a tendency to live where we are not - whether in a fondly remembered past or in the hazy vistas of some future when we "really will live." Dear Lord Jesus, center us in the present. Show us that you are with us in this moment, that this slice of time that seems so fleeting is an everlastingness to you. You are forever and now.

Give us your peace in the midst of change. Sometimes the pace of change is so rapid that it brings us close to chaos, Dear Lord Jesus. Sometimes it is so slow that it seems to take forever just to get up and get going in the morning. But you are the master of wind and wave, you have a capacity for overcoming the chaos of change. Your grace saves us from the nothingness of drawn out days and nights. Touch us with that grace. Let a bit of your eternity dwell within us, giving us a weight of glory in the middle of the vortex of change we are all in.

Dear Lord Jesus, we remember before you those who have suffered loss -- of loved ones, of hopes, of dreams. Help us to know that nothing good is ever lost, but that which is all good and precious is gathered up into your everlasting kingdom. Help us to remember that those we have lost are not lost if we know where they are. Be with those who are lonely and depressed. Give unto them the boost of your joyful laughter and music, winging from your heavenly throne. Be with all who suffer and are ill at ease. You are with us no matter what we feel, Dear Lord Jesus. You are ours and we are yours. Sustain us with your grace and grant us your peace. Hear our pleas, we bring them all to you, Dear Lord Jesus, in your name. Amen
from the prayers of Bill Spencer