Pastoral Prayer (Oct. 22) Athens First UMC

[We concluded our 5-week "Living Generously" worship series by planting seeds for God's kingdom as we prepare for a new year of ministry here at Athens First UMC. Click here for the sermon. Several people came forward and placed their 2018 Estimate of Giving cards in a basket and received a packet of "Doing Good" wildflower seeds. The packet of seeds is to remind each of us that our our financial gifts and deeds of kindness are really seeds that we are planting in our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of our community and world. Extra 2018 Estimate of Giving cards and packets of seeds are available in our church office.]

God of the harvest, thank you for all of the seeds that have just been planted to help us fulfill our church’s mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of our community and world.

As the hymn writer/poet so beautifully puts it, “In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree; unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.”

As we plant seeds for your kingdom to bear fruit this coming year, I pray for your blessing to be upon every gift and upon every giver as we seek to continue to live generously in and through the life of our church.

And as we look toward a new year of fruitful ministry together, we also give you thanks and praise for the harvest we continue to experience this year:

Thank you for hot chocolate and water bottle give-aways. Thank you for the receiving of new members. Thank you for a new discipleship strategy of having a Loving, Learning, & Living faith. Thank you for a growing hospitality ministry. Thank you for loving and caring Stephen Ministers who offer one to one peer support. Thank you for our beautifully remodeled church building. Thank you for our new Monday evening meal and Worship U gathering. Thank you for our many outreach ministries. And thank you for the many, many other blessings that we are experiencing in the life of our church. We are so blessed!

And so, in this prayer, we just want to say, “thank you.” Thank you for the privilege it is be part of the Body of Christ where we can actually see what a difference you are making in and through us. And we thank you in advance for how the seeds that we are planting today, will bear fruit exponentially in the coming year.

We offer this pray in the name of the one who has given us the seeds to plant, Jesus Christ, and who taught us to pray together saying, “Our Father, who art in heaven…”