Prompts for Prayers of Intercession: October 3, 2021
These prompts are provided for worship leaders as they prepare the prayers of intercession for weekly worship. The prompts are prepared by several leaders in the ELCA and reflect current world and national events. You are encouraged to adapt and add other concerns for your local context, including staying informed of events and concerns in your synod.
Intercession prompts:
For the people of Germany in the wake of a national election…
For the witness of LGBTQIA+ persons in the church and for all allies and advocates…
For equitable and affordable access to healthcare for all…
For the work of the ELCA’s AMMPARO (Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation, and Opportunities) initiative and for the safety of migrant minors…
For the work of the 2022 Multicultural Youth Leadership Event (MYLE) planning team…
In thanksgiving for the life and witness of Francis of Assisi…
Other notable events and observances:
Commemoration of Francis of Assisi, renewer of the church (October 4)
National Hispanic Heritage Month (ongoing through October 15)
LGBT History Month (October 1-31)
Suggested hymns and prayers:
Prayer for the human family (ELW, p. 79)
O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son. Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred that infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and, through our struggle and confusion, work to accomplish your purposes on earth; so that, in your good time, every people and nation may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.
A prayer against prejudice (ACS p. 51)
O God, your divinity transcends distinctions of gender, and through the generations you widen our awareness of human diversity. We gather here before you in our various expressions of gender identity, all of us one in Christ Jesus. Bring our society to peacefulness concerning a wider understanding of gender. Give courage and healing to those who express outwardly the gender they testify as gift from you. Open the church to their witness. We ask that with your creative Spirit you cultivate new relationships, mend old wounds, and nurture communities of respect, for the sake of the one who embraces all persons in love, Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Amen.
A prayer attributed to Francis of Assisi (ELW p. 87)
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Hymn suggestion for uplifting the diversity of our communities:
God, We Gather as Your People (ACS 1038)
Hymn suggestions for the commemoration of Francis of Assisi or a Blessing of the Animals liturgy:
God of the Sparrow (ELW 740)
All Creatures, Worship God Most High! (ELW 835)
Earth Is Full of Wit and Wisdom (ACS 1064)
Additional topical prayers are found in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (pp. 72–87) and All Creation Sings (pp. 46–55), as well as in other resources provided in print and online at sundaysandseasons.com.
Crafted intercessions for every Sunday and festival are provided in the Sundays and Seasons worship planning guide published in-print and online by Augsburg Fortress.
Prayer Ventures, a daily prayer resource, is a guide to prayer for the global, social and outreach ministries of the ELCA, as well as for the needs and circumstances of our neighbors, communities and world.