O God of strange reversals
and healing mysteries,
we thank You for giving us
a Divine King who has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows.
When we are confronted
by the vulnerability and suffering of others,
enable us to act in ways that are in tune
with Your generous love and endless mercy.
Grant that we might establish our own
pockets of peace, corners of the earth
where Your Kingdom is welcome.
Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
O God, before Your Kingdom rules in the world
it must rule in our hearts.
Honestly, we often have our own plans and agendas,
and we want to be rulers of our world.
Christ, You came to exemplify rule in Your Kingdom
by becoming a foot washer and friend of sinners.
Help us to keep our eyes open, always looking
for those who come to us, bearing Your image,
looking for mercy.
We pray mercy for those who fled
fires in California and now have nothing.
We pray mercy for those celebrating
first holidays without loved ones.
We pray mercy for those without
a table to sit at or food to eat.
May we always be a people who
hold the truth in love, not judgment;
who walk humbly with You, not in pride;
who are slow to speak and quick to listen.
Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
O God, in His time, Christ demonstrated
His authority over wind and wave.
We pray for peace and calm to those
whose lives are troubled.
We pray for the family of John Chau,
a missionary killed on a remote island
in the Indian Ocean.
Give them peace as they grieve
and try to make sense of his loss.
For missionaries all over the world
working to make Your Name known,
grant them wisdom and grace in their work.
O God, train us to see Your righteous rule,
wherever it may be:
in the least of these,
in the oppressed,
in those we consider other,
in the stranger.
In our work and in our families.
In Your love, move us beyond fear;
move us beyond guilt and anxious worry;
move us deeper into Your surprising grace,
and heal our blindness that does not see You
as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
All this we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.