A United Methodist Pastor's Theological Reflections

"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory (nikos) through our Lord Jesus Christ." - I Corinthians 15:57


Monday, April 30, 2018

Pastoral Prayer (April 29) Athens First UMC




[During both worship services yesterday, we recognized our wonderful and dedicated Telecare ministry team (see picture above.) They meet on a monthly basis to make phone calls to our congregation to let them know about upcoming events, ask for any prayer requests, and see how they are doing. This year marks the 5th anniversary of Telecare. Our worship theme was “Staying Connected” which is at the heart of what Telecare does on behalf of our congregation. Click here for the sermon.]


O God, thank you for this connection we have with you called prayer. It’s a great way to be in relationship with you at any time and in any place. Your inbox probably gets pretty full, but we know you enjoy hearing from us.

Thank you for being a God with a stronger signal than any cell phone tower. You are ever more ready to hear than we are to pray.

Help us as your branches to stay connected with you because you are our living vine. When we stay connected with you, we notice that we are more likely to bear fruit and have a growing faith in Christ.

And so with confidence and boldness that your signal is strong enough to receive this message, hear our prayers as we pray for…

Our church including those who are in need of healing, our ministries, our leaders, and that we would stay focused on our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of our community and world as well as our discipleship strategy of each person have a loving faith, a learning faith, and a living faith.

We pray for those who are suffering and those in trouble…
We pray for the concerns of this local community…
We pray for the world, its people, and its leaders…
We pray for our Bishop of the West Ohio Conference and our District Superintendent as they provide episcopal leadership and guidance.

O God, we confess that for whatever reasons, we often forget turn to you for strength, guidance, and peace. And so, forgive us for the times where we have disconnected ourselves from you by not practicing the spiritual disciplines of our faith like prayer, scripture, worship, and serving others.

Whenever it seems that we have a weak signal, remind us to look over our shoulders to see that nothing can ever separate us from your love in Christ Jesus, our Lord. You are the true vine that connects us with you so that we can bear much fruit. And it’s in the name of Christ, our true vine, that we join together in praying the words you taught us to pray, 

“Our Father, who art in heaven…”

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