Prayer For Pastoral Transition
God of Love,
You are with us in every transition and change.
As we enter into this new era with excitement and even some anxiety,
we recall your deep compassion, presence, and abounding love.
We thank you for the gifts, talents and skills with which you have blessed us.
We thank you for the experiences that have brought us to this moment.
We thank you for the work of others that gives breadth and depth to our own work.
Be with us as we move forward, rejoicing with you and supporting one another.
We ask this in your Holy Name.
Amen.
Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth,
hear our prayers for this St. Andrew's parish family.
Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent.
Grant us all things necessary for our common life,
and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Almighty God, look graciously on the people of St. Andrew's Church.
Be with us in this season of pastoral transition, and lead us as we seek the next rector for our church.
We ask your encouragement, direction, and guidance for those who shall choose our new spiritual leader,
that we may receive an upright and faithful pastor who will care for your people
and equip us all for the work you have given us to do.
Grant us perception, faithfulness, and joy, so that we may hear your voice in all our deliberations.
Call us deeper into prayer, and open our eyes to your faithful presence with us in Word and Sacrament.
Grant us also the desire and the ability to listen carefully to one other.
Give us wisdom to respond and to act as you lead us.
Come Holy Spirit.
We pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Father grant them endurance, patience, greater faith, dependence, and trust in You. We pray for members to embrace the call to be the church, to make disciples wherever they are, starting with their families and neighbors.
Through all of this, may we remain confident Your Church will survive and thrive. May we earnestly seek you. Please, sovereign God, strengthen your Church! We ask all of these things in Your precious Son's name. Amen!
Father, I humbly ask you to keep me in this journey of gospel freedom, even this very day. Keep turning everything upside down and right side up. Help me to increasingly fear you, not be afraid of you; to love your glory way more than my comfort; to be a son, to the praise of your great gospel and glorious name. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus' name.
Show us the way we should go through our transitionstransitions of age and stage, career and calling, health and finances, relationships and ministries. Write stories of redemption beyond our wildest dreams and hopes. It's all about you, Lord Jesusnot us.
We're not so arrogant as to expect all the details. Just take us by the hand and lead the way. Shepherd us, Jesus. Open doors we cannot shut and shut doors we cannot open. All we need to know is that you love us and that you're with us. You've promised us both, and you do not lie. So very Amen we pray, in your peerless and priceless name. Amen
Lord Jesus, it's the assurance of your unfailing love which enables us to trust you with the transitions we go through in life, and the uncertainties about the future. Change is never easy. Change makes us feel vulnerable, fearful, and insecure. We get tempted, once again, to be our own savior. Spare us that misery, Jesus; spare us and those we love. May your Word dwell in us richly and your peace rule in us powerfully; and may your glory be our main passion and greatest delight.
Amen
Dear Lord Jesus, indeed, in the morning, at midday, in the afternoon, and throughout the night, keep on bringing us word of your unfailing love. That's all we need; that's all we really needthe assurance of your unwavering, contra-conditional, boundless love.
By the Holy Spirit, incessantly gossip the gospel in our inmost ear. Wrap the good news of your irrepressible, endless affections around our hearts, tighter and tighter and tighter. Permeate every bit of our being with your fresh mercies, steadfast love, and transforming grace, for we have put our trust in you. Amen