Prayer for the Week: A Spirit of love and power has descended upon us, but are we receptive? The season of Pentecost is upon us, and we call upon you, O Gracious God, to continue to pour your empowering gifts into our lives. The church – your community upon the earth – needs to be inspired and emboldened to continue to live as Jesus has taught. The world around us is self-centered, materialistic, judgmental and spiteful. Such values are everywhere we look, and this unhealthiness too often infiltrates your representatives to the world. We need your help, O Lord, if we are going to be a radical alternative. Empower us to speak to children, to youth, to the elderly, to all those in between, and to anyone else who is caught in a world that encourages self-destructive and community-eroding behavior. Allow the fire of the Spirt to burn away all the unnecessary garbage. Allow for the Spirit-filled wind to blow away everything that keeps us from following faithfully. We desire, O Gracious Redeemer, to be a Pentecost Church, born of the Spirit and continually filled with the Spirit. Amen.
