Pastoral Prayer: Palm Sunday


Here’s a pastoral prayer for Palm/Passion Sunday – the last Sunday in Lent.  It was written by Paul Sauer, and posted on the Lutheran Forum website.

Pastoral Prayer
for the last Sunday in Lent

Lord God, our Heavenly Father and Helper, open our ears that we may hear you as clearly as Isaiah did. Teach us to listen more intently to your Word than we do to the sounds of the world. When we hear, may we obey and rejoice with those who sang you into Jerusalem.

We trust in you O LORD:                     
You are our God.

Lord Jesus Christ, you emptied yourself for us. You set aside the glories of heaven and came to earth as the only Son of God. You were obedient unto death, even death on a cross. We confess that you are our Lord, the glory of God the Father.

We trust in you O LORD:                     
You are our God.

Holy Spirit, even as you were with Christ at His trial, be with us in our trials that we may not fear the forces of this world that can only inflict death. You remembered whose you were. You are the resurrection and the life.

We trust in you O LORD:                     
You are our God.

Lord Jesus Christ when we cry out in joy, hear our song as a song of thanksgiving. When we cry out in despair, remind us to commit our cause and our spirit into your hands.

We trust in you O LORD:                     
You are our God.

On this Sunday of the Passion, remember the suffering of those among us who need to know your love for them surpasses all human understanding: _______.

We trust in you O LORD:                     
You are our God.

Though we remember we are dust and to dust we shall return, we remember that we are your precious dust. Amen.

~ written by Paul Sauer, and posted on Lutheran Forum. http://www.lutheranforum.org/