Prayer Page

This page can help with you bring God more into your life through prayer in several ways. Click on any of the topics below and we'll take you straight to that spot on this page to help you.

Ministry of Presence Team: A Covenant Relationship of Caring
The Lord's Prayer
Prayers We Offer to help you pray everyday

Ministry of Presence Team: A Covenant Relationship of Caring

What a challenge! A unique opportunity! Through the Ministry of Presence team here at APC, we are able to use the many and diverse God-given gifts that are present among us – to express over and over again, the love of God through the loving, nurturing care of others.

What is a ministry of presence? To be with a person who is experiencing grief, a dangerous illness, a lost job, or devastating family news--to listen to that person’s feelings, to convey God’s love without necessarily speaking aloud; to care for others as God cares for us.

Jesus proclaimed the reign of God. Preaching good news to the poor and release to the captives; teaching by word and deed, blessing the children, healing the sick and binding up the brokenhearted.

In response to the gospel, we seek to live our lives following the model of Christ. The call of Christ is a call to willing, dedicated discipleship; our discipleship is a manifestation of the new life we enter through baptism. Discipleship is both a gift and a commitment, an offering and a responsibility. APC’s Ministry of Presence team has heard the call of Christ in a specific way. For the past two years, these members have engaged in times of conversation and self-education: practicing listening skills; learning what to expect when making hospital visits; learning how to sit with those experiencing grief and death, a job loss, life transitions such as aging and retirement, and being present with the stress of family crisis.

Several of our members have felt called to this particular service in Arlington Presbyterian Church. The grace bestowed on them in baptism is sufficient for this special calling because it is God’s grace; and, by God’s grace we are all saved and enabled to grow in faith, and to commit our lives in ways that serve Christ.

The Ministry of Presence team has covenanted with the congregation of Arlington Presbyterian Church to work with our minister and the members and friends of our faith community by:

· Visiting the ill at home, or in the hospital

· Supporting those going through a life crisis

· Maintaining contact with those unable to attend church due to illness or disability

· Supporting friends and family involved in care giving

· Comforting the bereaved

The team has covenanted with each other throughout the last two years to:

· To give mutual support, caring fellowship and loving advice

· To invest time and effort to help each other towards spiritual growth and enrichment

Likewise, the members and friends of Arlington Presbyterian Church confirmed the call of God to these our brothers and sisters as caregivers in the service of Jesus Christ, and offered up their continuing prayerful support and encouragement in this special ministry.

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The Lord's Prayer

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 debts as we forgive our debtors.

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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Prayers We Offer

Sometimes it's hard to get started in a prayer. Our heads often are full of daily concerns, and maybe a part of us wonders who's listening. Have faith. Read the prayers we offer below. One may resonate with you and a concern you have for yourself, your family or your world.

Thanksgiving

God, You fill our lives with your abundant grace. When we hoard what you have given us, it rots like manna with the morning sun. When we share your abundance with others, we know the joy for which you created us. May the gifts we share bring joy to others as our witness to your love, the love made human in your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

For a Vision of Peace

Eternal God, You broke into the world not with the shout of battle but with the cry of a tiny babe; now break into the lives of Your children around the world. Fill us with a vision of Your peace on earth so that even in the midst of conflict and violence we may have hope, through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

For Hope

We pray that someday an arrow will be broken, not in something or someone, but by each of humankind, to indicate peace, not violence. Someday, oneness with creation, rather than domination over creation, will be the goal to be respected. Someday fearlessness to love and make a difference will be experienced by all people. Then the eagle will carry our prayer for peace and love, and the people of the red, white, yellow, brown, and black communities can sit in the same circle together to communicate in love and experience the presence of the Great Mystery in their midst. Someday can be today for you and me. Amen.

For World Unity

O God, You love justice and You establish peace on earth. We bring before You the disunity of today’s world: the absurd violence, and the many wars, which are breaking the courage of the peoples of the world; militarism and the armaments race, which are threatening life on the planet; human greed and injustice, which breed hatred and strife. Send Your Spirit and renew the face of the earth; teach us to be compassionate toward the whole human family; strengthen the will of all those who fight for justice and for peace; lead all nations into the path of peace, and give us that peace which the world cannot give. Amen.

For Those in Military Service

God of compassion, we pray for military personnel, offered for the sake of others, and separated from family and loved ones. Care for them; meet their needs. Grant them courage, compassion, strength, and all they need for the living of these days. Sustain them through their every trial. Remind them of the humanity they share even with those who are called “the enemy;” through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray. Amen.

For Those in Leadership

Holy God, provide those who make decisions of life or death of war or peace with the wisdom and courage, the patience and the judgment to seek peaceful means of resolving conflict. We pray through the Prince of Peace, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

For the Victims of War

Merciful God, comfort and console those who get in the way of war and suffer the most –the women, the children, the old ones –who are wounded and killed, orphaned and widowed, and left homeless and hungry. Touch Your children with compassion that we might respond swiftly and well to the needs of those who suffer; we pray in the name of Jesus who suffered for all. Amen.

For Family and Friends of Those in Military Service

God of love, we pray for families left behind by those called to serve in the armed forces. We pray for husband, wives, and partners, for sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, cousins and grandparent, aunts and uncles, co-workers and special friends. We pray for all who wait and wonder and worry on account of one they love. Stand with them in these anxious moments. Help them feel Your loving presence embracing them, embracing those they love. Speed the day when they will know glad reunion. In Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

For a New Way of Understanding

Help me remember, loving God, that body counts and casualty lists and collateral damage have faces closely resembling my partner, my children, my friends, my colleagues, and myself. Amen.

For a New Way of Seeing

God who creates us all and who loves us each, help us look past “the enemy” to see our brothers and sisters. May this new way looking impact our living; in Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

For Those We Call our Enemies

Gracious God, Your son Jesus calls us to do some hard things. His way is not easy. Nothing may challenge us as much as His call to love and pray for those whom we call our enemies. Yet we would follow where He leads and so we pray for President Saddam Hussein of Iraq that he might work for peace between his nation and the United States; that he might honor the rights of all Iraqi citizens. We pray for the Iraqi leaders that they might make wise and just decisions for their people. We pray for the members of the Iraqi military, recognizing that they are fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, people doing their jobs as do those in our military; watch over them, speed the day when they leave the battlefields and return to those they love. We pray for the people of Iraq, who have borne oppression, who have gone through war and suffered its aftermath, who have endured sanctions, who have experienced the bombings of the no-fly zones. And who now again face war which deals destruction to their homes, devastation to their country, and death to their loved ones. Stand with them. Make Your presence known to them. Comfort them in their grief. Strengthen them for the living of these days. For all of these we pray, as Jesus asked us to do, and in His name. Amen

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