Living Water Congregational Prayer

Thank you for water;
for its smooth cleanness as it runs from our taps,
water that is safe for drinking,
water that doesn’t stop running.
Thank you for beautiful blue of lakes,
for the chortling of streams, for the rushing of rivers,
for the richness of water resources.
Thank you for water from the skies,
for water that falls on gardens and crops,
fuelling green growth, food for the world.
Thank you for water for fun;
for swimming pools filled with laughing children,
and sprinklers making rainbows on the hottest days.
Water is so everpresent, so powerful and lifegiving,
we almost forget that it is a gift from you.
We come with prayers today for people who are sick,
we need your spirit of healing flowing into our lives.
There are people here grieving the loss of loved ones,
comfort them with visions of eternal streams.
Where we have given up hope; fill us now.
Where we are lonely; fill us now.
Where we can find no love in our hearts; fill us now.
Forgive us for living parched lives,
wastelands where we think only of ourselves,
and spare no thoughts for those around us.
Thank you for your presence, which bubbles up,
refreshing and enlivening our hardest places.
Today we pray for dry places in the world;
for lands where people walk long distances for water,
where weather patterns have changed, and people wait for rain.
We pray for countries like Israel and Palestine where access to water
becomes a weapon of oppression.
God, give us a thirst for righteousness and justice!
Help us work for peace in our world,
for there is so much water and yet many are thirsty.
We pray all this in Jesus’ name,
who is Living Water for us all,  Amen.