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, October 29, 2018

Sunday Pastoral Prayer (Oct. 28/Youth Sunday) Athens First UMC



[We celebrated Youth Sunday. Our youth led the worship services and our Holy Hands Puppeteers offered a fun skit on the story of Jesus healing blind Bartimaeus. Click here for the skit. Our church is so blessed to have youth who are active in our church and who help us understand the scriptures from their perspective.]

Jesus, come and fill your lambs. Fill your lambs with new sight to help us see our way forward more clearly like you did for Bartimaeus. Fill your lambs with the energy of youth when we begin to feel weary. Fill your lambs with conviction like you did for Martin Luther when he posted the 95 theses on the doors of the Wittenberg Church on this anniversary Sunday of the Protestant Reformation.

Jesus, come and fill your lambs. 

We especially pray on this Youth Sunday for you to come and fill each of our young people with the the full assurance that they belong to you. Whenever they get discouraged, face disappointment, feel lost or experience stress, fill them anew with your love.

Fill us all anew with your love in this world where bomb threats, violent rhetoric, blatant racism, and abusive behavior seem to be an all too common occurrence. Fill us anew so that we can be the change that we want to see in this world that you created.

Fill us anew so that we can continue to be your people who pick up litter along the highway, arrange flowers to bless someone’s day in the hospital, provide meals for the community, pray up and down Court Street, and help build a home with Habitat for Humanity. 

Jesus, come and fill your lambs who are gathered here this morning or who are listening over the radio. We give to you all the things that hold us, all our tears and sadness, and all our years of pain. We give all of this to you silently in this very moment and lift our hands in sweet surrender to you.

(Moments of Silence)

Fill your lambs, dear Jesus and descend upon our lives and make us whole even as we pray the prayer you taught us to pray together,

“Our Father, who art in heaven…”

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