October 24: 22nd Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 25
Jeremiah 31: 7-9 (God saves, consoles, and leads back the remnant of his people)
Psalm 126 (Israel’s fortunes restored; those who sowed in weeping bring in the sheaves with joy)
Hebrews 7:23-28 (Our perfect, great High Priest is the blameless eternal Son of God)
Mark 10:46-52 (Blind Bartimaeus is healed and follows Jesus on the way)
THE PRAYERS
Let us intercede before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the sake of the Church, the world, and one another.
A brief silence
Dear Father, thank you for the mercy, healing, forgiveness, and salvation you lavish upon us in Jesus! Give us courage and persistent faith, so we always trust and follow him along his Way.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Purify and shape your Church into the perfect Temple for your Son, our great High Priest. Make it lovely with holiness, beautiful with mercy, and radiant with truth. Use it to enlighten the spiritually blind, and equip it to lead them along Christ’s way.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
As you consoled and healed the remnant of Israel, do so and more for your persecuted Church. Make it rich in faith, hope, and love. By its witness to Jesus, open the eyes of its sin-blinded enemies, and lead them also along Christ’s way.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Bless this congregation with such lively faith that we always see opportunities to bring other people to Jesus and his healing love. Make us eager to be companions to those who don’t yet know him. Help us to be their guides along Christ’s way.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Lord, blindness isn’t just a metaphor. It’s a physical reality. We lift before you the challenges and needs of those who are impaired in vision, hearing, and mobility. Help us to bring the light of your love and the music of your Word to them. Help us also to provide the assistance, training, and support they need to flourish. Let us be their “guide dogs” along Christ’s way.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Pound into the heads of our country’s leaders some common sense, humility, and virtue. Teach them that power, wealth, and fame matter less than wisdom, justice, mercy, and integrity. Use them to lead their people along your way.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Thank you for the brave, wise, and good among us who risk so much to protect life, health, liberty, and justice. Renew and sustain their strength and resolve. Use them to mend communities fractured by sickness, violence, and injustice, and to lead many along your way.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Like Bartimaeus’s friends, we plead that Jesus would bring healing and encouragement to all who suffer in body, mind, or spirit. Especially we plead for: {List}. Bring them healing and hope, light and life. Refresh all who care for them, so together they may walk along your way.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Dear Father, we entrust into your care our beloved dead. Ease the sorrow of those whose grief runs deep. Give us strength to encourage and support each other as we follow our blessed Savior along the way that leads to your spacious house and our eternal homecoming.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Incline your ear to our prayers, dear Lord; and answer them according to your most gracious and holy will, for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
