Holy and mysterious God, we come to you today with an even deeper awareness of how inadequate we often feel when faced with pain, suffering, and injustice in our world. Like Job’s friends, we often turn to old cliches and simple answers, sprinkled in with some bible verses to make sense of it all, but that often leads to even more questions.
But we also know that we are not alone in those times when life has knocked us to our knees leaving us to question our faith. We think of many of the Psalmists who cried out to you for justice. We think of Job who was seeking to understand why he had experienced so much suffering in his life. And we remember Jesus words on the cross when he prayed, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”
Thank you for being a God who invites us to offer these honest prayers about our faith. Thank you for being a God who promises to be with us in the midst of our unanswered questions and deepest longings. And thank you for being a God who invites us to pray on behalf of others who may be going through a difficult time in their life. We lift up to you the people on our church’s prayer list as well as other joys and concerns. May each of them know of your healing, guiding, comforting, and loving presence for them this day.
In place of easy answers and old worn-out cliches, we pray that you would still our souls and help us to bear patiently the cross of grief or pain as we pray this prayer that Jesus taught us to say together…
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.
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