God of life, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank you for the gift of life and for this world that you love.  We thank you for loving this world even in its fallenness through the redemption you make real in Jesus Christ. We praise you for the gift of the Holy Spirit who gathers us as your people and calls us into your mission and equips us for it.

As I serve our congregations in Canada and our international partners, I ask you for the gifts of wisdom, endurance, and clarity of thought. May I listen well to those whom I teach and mentor. May I listen even more closely to your Spirit for guidance and wisdom.

We thank you for the generosity of Canadian Baptists so that we may work together to bring the healing power of Jesus to a broken world. We ask for your guidance as we continue to discern where the Spirit is leading us in new paths of mission. We pray for the projects that we are developing to further equip your people for mission. We pray for our partners in Kenya, especially Beth Kamathi as she leads the theological college of the African Christian Churches and Schools. We pray for our partners in Eastern Europe and Central Asia as they courageously develop a new generation of leaders.

We pray for your people everywhere who live with the burden of this pandemic. Give us patience, sustain our hope, comfort those who have suffered from COVID-19, who have lost people they love, whose lives have been disrupted and damaged by this pandemic.

I ask that you continue to grant me good health and energy for these years of my life.  May I recall what I have learned over the years that may serve the tasks I have been given. Thank you for fulfilling my longing to serve the church around the world. May I be faithful to that calling by your power.

In all of this, Father, we give thanks for the hope that we have in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of his return. We give thanks for the gift of the Holy Spirit who makes us one and assures us Christ’s return and healing of all your creation, when there will be no more tears, no more pain, and no more death.

Come Lord Jesus, we pray.

Amen.