Prayers of the People, P8C

​Children of unfaithfulness call to you today, Faithful God,
and look for stability and strength,
longing to know what it looks like to love unconditionally,
to work through conflict,
to live in a relationship of grace with one another
and journey into the future
in covenant.

Children of destruction call to you today, God of Hope,
from food-insecure cities
and burning wildfires,
from war torn countries
and gang-infested neighborhoods,
yearning to run and laugh and play without fear ...
yearning for hope.

Children of shame call to you today, God of Mercy,
embarrassed to call upon your name,
certain you could not love us if you knew ...
but you do know ...
and still you love us all ...
in spite of the ways we fail you.
Open our ears to hear your Word proclaimed.
Open our hearts to receive it.

Children of those who call you by other names
call to you today,
according to the names by which they identify you ...
children of other cultures,
other faiths,
other interpretations of theology,
seeking familiarity,
seeking understanding,
seeking wisdom.
Hear, and answer, Lord.
Gather all of us together ...
all your children ...
in the name of love,
in a community of grace
on earth as it is in heaven.