Stuff...

Prayers for the week of February 9, 2014
Heavenly Father, through the prophets You declare that the fasting You accept is to share what we have with those who --because of tragedy, illness and age--- do not have the basic necessities of life.   Guard us from all vices that prevent us from extending Your bounty to those who cannot provide for themselves.  Grant shelter to those who have none, food to those who hunger and honest work to the unemployed. Use Your people to extend Your mercy, and lift us to the joy of sharing our daily bread. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.  Into Your hands, O Lord, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen.
"Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will
say, 'Here I am'."  Isaiah 58:9a
----------------------------------------
A Prayer based on the Petitions of the Lord's Prayer:
"Thy Kingdom Come"
In the Name of the Father and of (+) the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
O Lord, Whose Kingdom comes freely and abundantly, we sinners pray that Your Kingdom may come among us also, even today, as Your Holy Spirit works through Word and Sacrament to bring us Your Kingdom of grace and mercy, so that we would believe Your Word and lead a godly life according to it. To that end, lend your fatherly ear to my petitions:
* For the ill, suffering, injured: O Lord, as Your Son came preaching, "the kingdom of heaven is at hand," so also as part of that message He came healing the sick and raising the dead. Bring comfort to those who contend with illness, to those who suffer, to the injured and the hurting, especially to Phil Sloane*, Connie Block*, Richard June*, Pam Covey*, Susan Ail - contending with cancer and Debbie Kufeld* - who should now be recovering at home and bless Barbara, Janet's mother, that they all may know that Your Kingdom of temporal care and eternal salvation is even now  among us through the work of your Holy Spirit and your blessed Word and Sacrament.
* For the anxious, lonely: O God, through the work of Your Holy Spirit, who brings to our remembrance all the promises of Christ, we know that the blessings of Your Kingdom - given freely in Your Divine Service to us - is a present comfort, a daily calm in the face of all our cares.  Hear my prayer on behalf of Roxanne, Kerry, Joe, Anne, Vickie, Dan, and Beth and family, that they would be granted Your peace, which needs not worry about tomorrow, for Thy Kingdom of grace and mercy is among us this day. Grant us all peace for today and tomorrow's certain hope that Your Holy Spirit will continue to work among us and strengthen and sustain us through Your Word and Sacrament.
* For the mourning: O Lord, Thy Kingdom comes among us each and every day; especially at life's end, are we thankful  that You have sustained Your saints through Your Spirit's working in Word and Sacraments, that the faithful might know a blessed end. Hear my prayer on behalf of those who mourn the death of a loved one. Comfort them with Your mercy; point them to the future glory that knows in full the joys of the Kingdom that has no end. Grant them the courage to know that - as they continue on here below, here too Your Holy Spirit will continue to sustain them in Word and Sacrament.
* Please bless shut-ins Anette Andresen* , Dorothy Bratton*, and Bill Butchart*
* For the rejoicing: O Lord, with what rejoicing do we welcome and celebrate the coming gifts of Your Kingdom, Your grace and mercy therein, and the many temporal blessings that flow to us because - even today - Your Kingdom comes among us. Hear my prayer of thanksgiving on behalf of Michael* and Katy* Hopkins and their children* at the healthy birth of a son, Paul Ducett Hopkins. Grant them thankful hearts that confess Your goodness and desires to continually receive the means by which Your grace and Spirit come - pouring out the benefits of the cross upon us... those benefits won and purchased for us by the blood and death of Christ, our Lord.
Hear my petitions, O Heavenly Father, for the sake of Your Son, who has promised your kingdom to come and, thus, taught us to pray, "Our Father, who art in heaven..."