A Rotary Prayer

Our Father in Heaven, we come before Thy throne of grace this Wednesday morning
Thanking You for life, thanking You for another day
We come thanking You for all the blessings that Thou has bestowed upon us
  From the greatest of our existence up until this present morning
Realizing as we come there are thousands on top of thousands who are as we are
Some are not as we are, but you know their condition
Just touch them we pray in your own special way as only you can
Strengthen them spiritually and physically we humbly ask Thee
Guide them and direct them in the way that Thou would have them go
Pray for those in need of Thee everywhere
The sick and the shut in, take care of them, we humbly ask Thee
Bless those who are behind the bars in prison
Bless those in the hospitals, day care homes and elsewhere
Have mercy upon us this morning, we humbly ask Thee
BLess our club, bless it's officers, endow them with the knowledge and wisdom from on high
Lead and direct them in such manner as You would be pleased
Please stand by us, we humbly ask Thee
Pray for our nation, our state and county in which we live
Ask your blessings on the leaders thereof and help them to look to Thee
  from whence cometh all Thy help
We pray in Thy name
We pray for our young men and women defending this great nation around the world
Bless their families and loved ones they left behind
Our Father, on this day, the opening day of the new school year, be with the teachers
 Protect them, we pray, from all seen and unseen dangers,
Bless the young people with whom they will be working
Help them to learn
Endow them with the knowledge and wisdom to do that which is right
We ask in Thy name
Be with us, Father, we pray. We need You this morning.
When we come to the end of the journey, we pray that You will take us by the hand
 and lead us to the other side so that we can spend eternity with Thee
Our Father, this is my prayer.  In the name of Thy son, we pray.

Amen

August 2013

Father's Day Luncheon 2013

Our gracious heavenly Father,
We thank You for this day
Thank You for our many blessings
Thank You for this food before us
Pray that You'll be with us in each and every way

Amen

A Young Boy's Prayer

A prayer spoken at the funeral luncheon.

Thank you, Jesus, Lord we come to You again.
Lord, we thank You for this family
We ask You to bless them,
Be with them for what they went through, Lord, for what they're going to be going through
We ask You to keep Thy hand up on them
Bless this gathering here today
Bless this food
We give You all the glory and praise.
In Thy name we pray, Amen. 

Easter Lunch Prayer, 2013

Our most gracious Heavenly Father,

We thank You for this day
We thank You for our many blessings
Thank You for this gathering, for this food before us
We pray that You continue to be with us, in each and every way

Amen.

(And heard at the end, "Will you spoon me some black eyed peas and corn?"

Out!

. . . Jesus went up to the Temple and there he found the dealers in cattle, sheep, pigeons. He found the moneylenders at the tables. He made a whip out of cords; drove them out of the Temple, sheep, cattle and all. He upset the tables of the moneychangers, scattering their coins.
"Out!" Jesus said. He had little respect for the holiness codes; for traditions which excluded the poor, which created outcasts. ~ from A Litany of Maundy Thursday, First Congregational Church.

A Prayer for The Big Family

Lord we thank You again for the privilege that we have to assemble here again this year and this season. Lord we ask You to bless. Bless everyone that’s here, bless this family. Keep Thy hand upon them, and Lord those that are not here in the family You know the reason. Those that are sick we ask You to touch their body. God we give You the praise. We ask You to bless this food and the ones provided it. In Thy name we pray.

Amen.

A prayer for Amber

Oh, Amber. I will remember you all the days of my life; whether they be numbered one or one hundred or ten thousand. I will remember the way your family sang you into Heaven. I will remember. I will remember the sound of your mother's voice reading from the bible and the sound of your sister's voice as she prayed. I will remember the smile of peace and contentment on the reverend's face as she clapped. I will remember the day you first came in the store and left your resume. I will remember the bright and shining you on the day of your interview. I will remember you coming back from lunch breaks saying, "It's hot!" and us telling you it wasn't even hot yet. I will remember you saying you had to get a new weave. And hitting your head and the whole piece moving from side to side. I will remember the way you dealt with that super annoying lady and never let her under your skin. I will remember me telling you that you must have sinned over the weekend, because that lady had to have been penance, and you should consider your coworkers the next time you went to do whatever it was you did that caused her. I will remember the way you sqeualed over that young, dark, black man in his military uniform. Oh how you giggled over him. I will remember how you asked me in front of him if you could discount his accessory, and I thought, "Well, you asked me in front of him, so I guess so." And then when he left you squealed and I figured it out. I will remember the way you loved that new phone of yours, and played with it the way a child plays with a new toy on their birthday. I will remember you talking about your sister coming to visit and bringing your cousin for the summer. You sounded so excited to see them. And telling us that, as hot as it is, you bet your sister never left the house. I will remember CJ telling me that you got tired of listening to me complain about the vacuum's cord being so short so you brought me an extension cord. I will remember the sound of your voice and the smile on your face.

I will remember you, whether I am given one day or one hundred or ten thousand. I will remember you, Amber.

Father's Day

and in honor of Father's Day, this is the meal blessing my Dad uses for family gatherings and holiday meals.

Our Gracious Heavenly Father, Once again we thank you for this day and for our many blessings and this food before us. Pray that you continue to be with us and bless us in each and every way. Amen

Let Us Pray

For several years, I was a member of a Rotary club in a Southern state. One of the members, a founding member, became over time sort of the unofficial every meeting prayer guy.

The words below are a typical prayer at Rotary as spoken by him.I found myself able to visit the club again this past week, and purposely moved closer to him so I could record it. His prayers are such a part of the Rotary, that I didn't want to miss a chance to get it, to record it, to keep it. The reading of it doesn't quite do it justice. It's best heard, with his tone of voice and inflections. My favorite part is always "touching us with thy divine finger of love." Spoken, it lasted two minutes this week. They vary some from week to week, but the themes are always similar. ~

Let us pray

Our Father in Heaven, we come before Thy throne of grace this Wednesday morning thanking You for life and thanking You for another day. We thank You for watching over us last night while we slept and slumbered, touching us with Thy divine finger of love and enabling us to get up and witness the light of another day. We thank You for life, health and strength. Thank You for the food you placed on the tables before us for the nourishment of our bodies and we thank You, Master, for the hands that prepared the same.

And as we come we pray that You will be with us throughout this day, guiding us and directing us in the way that You would have us to go.
Watch over us we pray Thee as we go about our daily tasks. Take care of us we ask in Thy name.

We pray for our nation, state and county in which we live. We ask the blessings upon the leaders thereof. Help them to look to Thee, from whence cometh all the help ,we pray in Thy name. We pray for our club, we pray for its officers. Endow them with the knowledge and wisdom to lead and direct in such manner as Thou would be pleased. Have mercy upon us, we humbly ask Thee.

Our Father, we pray for our young men and women defending this great nation around the world. Bless the families and loved ones who they left behind. Bless those who are bereaved. Strengthen and comfort them, we humbly ask Thee. And help them to look to Thee from whence cometh all the help, we pray in Thy name. We pray for the sick, shut in and those who are in need of Thee. Just touch them in Your own special way, as only Y
ou can.
Be with us, Father, we pray. Take care of us we ask. Oh Lord, this is my prayer. In the name of Thy Son we pray.

Amen