Sunday Worship Pastoral Prayer (August 13) - Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

August 13, 2023

O God, your love does stay with us through the night, and you wake us up with the morning light. Your angels are watching over us.

 

Thank you for your angels who show up just at the right time; when we are feeling discouraged and empty, when we are carrying burdens that are too heavy for us to carry, when we are feeling drained emotionally, spiritually, and physically, when we are grieving the loss of a loved one, when we are losing hope, and when we are feeling lost and wondering if you are present with us. 

 

And help us, O God to be open to those times when you just might be calling us to be an angel for others where we can offer a listening ear, an encouraging word, a heart-felt prayer, and a safe space. 

 

During this middle of August, we especially pray for those who are going back to school, students as well as educators. We pray for your angels to watch over all who are beginning a new year of learning and growth as well as for all of us whether we are in school or not, that we might continue to grow in our faith and what it means to be disciples of Jesus. 

 

We pray for your angels to watch over each person on our church’s prayer list that they may know of your healing, protecting, and guiding presence in their lives. And today, we also especially pray for your angels to watch over the people in Maui who have lost their possessions and have been displaced by the recent wildfires.  Thank you for the United Methodist Committee on Relief, who are responding to this emergency in partnership with the California Pacific Annual Conference through the offering of needed supplies, counseling, and resources. Thank you for your angels who watch over our broken and hurting world. 

 

And O God, when we rise to start a brand-new day, and while we work and play, remind us that angels are watching over us. We pray this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and our Savior who taught us to pray together these words…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.