A Sunday prayer for hope

God who brought us into being
and who calls us by your promises,
we place our trust in you.

From the depths and darks of mystery,
to the glorious visions of love and light,
you call forth from us the best of your creation.

Show us the wonders of life transformed,
the calm that follows storms,
and also storms that call from us our greatest strength and courage.

Show us in each other the tenderness of care,
barriers overcome, intimacies unimagined.

Show us your vision of how the world can be,
how our lives may be a blessing,
our imaginations sparkling with creativity and light.

We are aware of injustices that oppress,
of complexities murky, challenges hard.

We see the effects of injustice
in hunger, poverty, and homelessness,
and in the -isms of prejudice around race, gender, money, and sex.

We are not unaware of our role
in the degradation of our environment,
and we are grateful for the calling to which we have been called.

So empower us and strengthen us
for the healing of the nations,
for wholeness in relationships,
for love to overcome,
for the breathing of your Spirit in joy and hope.

Gather these and all our prayers
in the name of your Son, our Savior, Jesus,
for it is in his name we pray. Amen.