1. Prayer
This prayer was used in our ‘Prayers for Others’ section on one Father’s Day Sunday.
God, this Father’s Day, we pray for those among us who are fathers. We celebrate and affirm this crucial role and we pray that they may increasingly enjoy and be enriched by their experience of being a father. We pray that in the joys and pains of parenting, they will make good choices, and be free from anxiety. We pray for an increasing depth of relationship with their children, and that they will find themselves recognised and acknowledged by their children both as a father and as an individual.
We pray for those fathers among us who are away from their children, or estranged from their families, that you will be alongside them to encourage them today.
God, we pray for our own fathers. Where there are good relationships we give you thanks, and pray that you will continue to strengthen the bond. Where our relationship with our father is weak or damaged through past hurts and wrongs we pray that you will bring healing and forgiveness, and if it is best, reconciliation and renewal of the relationship.
We pray for those who have experienced the loss of a father through death or other absence, that they will be comforted and that they will find ways of coping with the space that is left in their lives.
We pray for those who have been like fathers to us, whether extended family or friends, who have guided and provided for us, or acted as mentors to our personal growth. Thanks for bringing these people into our lives, and we pray that you will bless them.
God, we pray for children growing up without fathers, who have never known a father, who struggle to know what ‘father’ means. We pray that you will bring into their lives men who will act as role models and father figures, and will provide for their physical, spiritual and emotional needs.
We pray for those who would dearly love to be a father, but whose circumstances prevent it. Please comfort them and give them opportunities to give and receive love from children.
We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, who called you Father, and offered us the chance to become your children.
Amen.
(Brenda Stone)