PRAYER SERVICE FOR THE ELDERLY

Invocation by 5-2 I. Introduction:

(Pamela Suanes)Read this after the picture of Jesus fades out Our Grandparents taught us how to love our God, how to live according the Christian values. They made us stronger with their experiences and wisdom. They gave us their understanding and support in our hard times. Now, they need our company and gratitude. May this simple prayer be a light of hope for the sick, fountain of joy for the living and a glimpse of heaven for the departed.

II. Prayer for the Living

Prayer for the Living by 5-6 A. B. Letters to grandparents (selected 5-6 students) (Pamela Suanes) We now offer our prayer for our grandparents by placing their pictures at the altar. Please maintain the prayer disposition as we offer our grandparents pictures. C. Prayer for our grandparents (Mheliza) All-powerful and living God, in whom we live and move and have our being, we thank You and praise You for giving our grandparents long years, lived in faith and in doing good. Grant that they may have the loving support of their relatives and friends, that in good health they may be cheerful, and in poor health not lose hope. Sustained by the help of Your blessing, let them spend their old age giving praise to Your name. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. D. (Pamela Suanes) Let the love of God posses us, that we may be able to reflect this love to our grandparents. Let us all sing Power of Love (Play the guitar with PowerPoint)

II. Prayer for the Sick (c/o 5-5) A. B. C. (Justine Estuar) As we pray for our grandparents who have grown old and have become poor in health. We now pray for them. Opening Prayer Gospel Reading
Matthew 8:14-17 Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever. So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and served them. When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spiritswith a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses."

D.

Video (As the movie starts, Justine will read the folowing) (Justine Estuar) We now offer our prayer for our grandparents by placing their
pictures at the altar. Please maintain the prayer disposition as we offer our grandparents pictures.

E.

Closing Prayer
Father, I come to you in Jesus' name and ask for Your blessings upon all the elderly. Help us to learn from their wisdom and to share it with others. May you warm their 'winter years' with the assurance of eternal life. Please give inner peace to those who suffer with Alzheimer's, dementia or any type of mental illness. May the younger generation realize that with your blessings, we too; will be elderly someday, so as to remind us to apply our patience when we're in the presence of an elderly person. Send them dreams of Heaven and fill their rooms with your angels. Calm their fears of loneliness with whispers from the Holy Spirit, assuring them that: You will NEVER leave them alone, but be with them always! Ease their pain and discomforts, I pray. And I thank you dear Lord for all the elderly that remain in our lives today! I ask it all in the name above every name, the name of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of the true and the living God! Amen.

III. Prayer for the Dead (c/o 5-3) A. Opening Prayer

Lord Almighty we humbly ask to these prayers for our grandparents. "Calm their fears of loneliness with whispers from the Holy Spirit, assuring them that: You will NEVER leave them alone, but be with them always! Ease their pain and discomforts, and I thank you dear Lord for all the elderly that remain in our lives today! " Lord, wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. B. Reading 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17
The Hope of the Resurrection Dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. The word of the Lord

Leader: Father of all, you see every one of us as your child, no matter how young or old. You have known us for every second of our lives. You give us every breath, and you sustain us every day. We lift to you now the elderly. Each one is your child, Each one is precious in your sight. You have told us that through your Spirit, old men will dream dreams, Proclaiming that the day of the Lord is here. You see old men and women as they truly are knowledge-keepers and dreamers, Many of them, ever-faithful followers who have learned to walk in your ways. And we know, Father, that every aging heart is held in your hand, young and vibrant to your touch. We see how you use the wisdom, knowledge and experience of the older generations to teach the young, You trusted an old man to build an ark and save humanity from the flood. You brought a child to Abraham and Sarah despite their years, a child who signaled the beginning of Israel. You guided an aging Moses through the desert so he could lead thousands to the promisedland, And you gave Zechariah and Elizabeth a son in their old age, a son who would prepare the way for your own. All: Ancient of days, Lord of life, help us to love, support and respect the elderly as you do, and to see them as the knowledge-keepers and dreamers of our time. We stand now against these statistics that tell us a different story, and ask that you would help us join with older voices to work for justice for their generation. We pray for an end to food and fuel poverty; an end to hospital malnutrition; and an end to premature winter deaths. Open our eyes to see those around us who are lonely, frightened or cold and give us the compassion to take the time to listen to their stories, to bring them into our own homes and families, and to care for them as you do. We ask this Father in the name of your precious Son and through the power of your life-giving Spirit. Amen.

(Jean Sagadraca) Gathering our said and unsaid petitions into one. Let us now sing the prayer that Jesus himself taught us. Singing of our father by 5-7