Lord of all things new,

we come to you in prayer this morning as family.

We are many and we are different.

But those things that make us happy or confused or sad are similar.

 

Lord, this is the prayer

…of the man, recently laid off from work,

whose job has provided his identity for decades;

…of the lonely housewife aching for adult conversation

at the end of long, arduous days of laundry, diapers,

fighting children and a barrage of thankless tasks;

…of the college student who recently discovered

she is pregnant six months before graduation;

…of the teen-age boy whose unchosen sexuality promises renewed bruising

and rejection from his father.

…of the businessman who sees his many years of hard work

building a business crumble and disintegrate

in the hands of greedy men who care little

for his sacrifice of time, sweat and pain;

…of the teenage runaway, whose only remaining options for survival involve

things too shameful to mention.

…of the young boy or girl forced to live in isolation,

fear and chaos because of abuse;

…of the elderly man or woman who faces the increased pain and frustration

of watching their spouse descend into the dark abyss of dimentia;

…of the forgotten senior who can’t possibly face another day

without companionship;

…of the family faced with the prospect that Daddy may not survive

his heart surgery or that Mommy’s cancer may not go away;

…of the family torn apart by bitter divorce;

…of the person who, for any reason, is furious with you

for not coming to rescue and making the pain stop.

 

Lord of hope,

we come to you in prayer this morning

 

as family.