God this is our prayer to you for our church, Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. Help us Lord as the United Methodist Church of Woburn to make this prayer our 2010 resolution. Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer. May it be the prayer that will guide our walk with you and our fellow church members, Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

"Tis the season of giving, and as we come together this evening, we offer thanks for our church where we can together with old friends and new to worship. We offer thanks for the peace and comfort we find there. It doesn't matter what hymns we sing, where we sit or how we pray. All that matters is that we come together as the body of Christ; to worship you, to praise you, to glorify your name, and to acknowledge Jesus as our Lord and savior. We thank you for moments in our church when we have experienced your living presence. What a wonderful gift you have given us dear Lord.

We pray for all the members of our church,O God. May we all experience a new walk with you in the year. Put in all our hearts a sense of the path that you have set for our congregation. Help us see your purpose clearly.Sometimes we forget that our purpose is to be the body of Christ. We forget that you are there with us as we come together.Sometimes we get off track. We complain, we get angry with one another, we fuss about things, and we even take sides on issues. Take away the barriers that stand between us and hinder us from being the people you want us to be. Take away the jealousies, the anger, the arguments, the disapproval and the temptation to speak before thought. Prevent us from making a judgment that is unkind. And when we hear opinions, may we remember that they are only opinions, for only you know the truth and the way. You have taught us that love is patient and kind. Love does not want to expose faults, but rather looks for and rejoices in goodness. Help us to make all our judgments in the light of the love that never dies. Thank you God that you have given each of us particular gifts and talents that can be used to uplift, uphold and empower this group. Thank you that this group can be part of your eternal plan. So this season and from this day forward, as we embrace the intangible wonder of Christmas, let the words that we speak bear the wisdom of your spirit and the power of your love. In Christ name we pray, Amen."

The Text of this sermon is: Luke 11: 1 Lord Teach us how to Pray  and 1 Samuel 1:12-27 Where Hannah prayed for a child.

There are so many powers we can talk about in this world today. For example, electrical power. This is one of the kinds of power that is understood by everybody. Those who are familiar with how this power works know that once we lose it, the whole city will be plunged into darkness. All of our refrigerators will stop working, and all the food will rot and stink. People may be afraid to walk the streets for fear of being robed or mugged. The whole city will grind to a halt.

Do you know that this is the same with the power of prayer? A believer who does not pray is like a gun without a bullet. Or a car without gasoline. He or she can not stand against the enemy. His or her life becomes like a city that has lost electrical power. When we don't pray we become too weak to fight spiritual battles. We become easy to defeat. Without even knowing it you have your hands in the air surrendering to your situation. Prayer is where the power of the believer is. It is where battles are fought and won. An individual who doesn't pray is like an unguarded White House. I believe this could be the reason why Daniel the prophet of God had to pray three times a day (Daniel 6:10 and Daniel9:4). May I ask you my friend, is your spiritual White House guarded by prayer?

Why not learn from Jesus who was always sure to pray? His ministry and life were surrounded by prayer . We read that ".....at that time Jesus went up a hill to pray and spent the whole night there praying to God" (Luke 6:12). Have you ever prayed for three to four minutes in your life? Jesus prayed not only for minutes or few hours, but he prayed the entire night. I am not asking you to pray for the whole night, no! But I am calling you to take prayer seriously in your life. Just as our President is guarded by the Secret Service. Prayer is the spiritual Secret Service. The human mind will never be able to understand how it works in our defence.

Acts 10:31, talks of Cornelius who prayed until God had to send an angel to let him know that his prayers had reached the throne of God in heaven. The man prayed until God can not remain silent. The surprising thing is that when the angel was sent from God it found Cornelius on his knees, in his prayer room, at three o'clock in the afternoon praying. I am sure it is safe for me to say very few of us have time to pray at all. We just don't have the time to do that. However, many of those Apostles we stand on their shoulders had time to pray in the morning, afternoon and evening. Their lives were guarded and protected by prayer. Is your life like that? Hello! Why are you smiling? Am I getting into your nervous system?

Jesus was so saturated in prayer that even his disciples noticed it they had to ask him to lead a seminar on prayer: "Lord teach us to pray...." (Luke 11:1). Let me ask you this: Do those who live with you know you as a woman or man of prayer? We can not do without this power that I am talking about. We all need it if we are to do better in our Christian lives. Remember the Words: Prayer Changes things. I wish you a happy Christmas and wonderful New Year.

Gracious Lord,

As we enter this season of Advent and reflect on the wonderous change your coming brought to the world, help us learn from your example and use our energy to change the world, every where we can.

Amen.

I would like everyone to join with me today in honoring those who have placed their lives on the line to serve their country, those who are serving today, those who have served in the past and especially those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for the love of freedom and the love of country.

Gracious Lord, today we recognize those who have committed themselves to struggling to preserve the rights and freedoms we hold dear. These brave men and women have offered their lives to ensure that our birthright of freedoms, freedom to speak, freedom to vote, freedom to choose, freedom to worship, will remain the cornerstone of our way of life.

Touch the lives of these brave men and women. Those who have given their all, take them into Your everlasting love.  Those who have been in harms way, welcome them home.  Those who are in harms way now, give them shelter until their tasks are done and they return to their loved ones.

Guide them and preserve them, for they are all children of God.

Amen.