Leader: Heavenly Father help us see life as you see it: a creation and gift from you.

Congregation: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness . . . So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.’”

Leader: Forgive our land, a land that murders 1.3 million unborn babies each year since our Supreme Court ruled that abortion was legal in 1973. May we repent as Christians for turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the unseen faces and unheard cries of the unborn.

Congregation: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. . . . My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in the secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.”

Leader: We pray for those in influential places who prey on the desperation of young women, telling them that their unborn child is not a child, but a choice.

Congregation: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life, that your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days.”

Leader: We pray for those who suffer from guilt, depression, and anxiety over choices they made in the past in this regard. We pray that you would show them your grace and mercy and healing of body and soul. For this is not a political issue, but a biblical and spiritual issue. Lord, we plead with you—show and share your grace through the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ.

Congregation: “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.”

Leader: Help us to show the beauty of obedience in abstinence and in waiting for God’s timing in bringing us a husband or wife, that we may find true joy and peace in bringing children into the world with loving Christian parents, either through their own children, or through adoption!

All: Thank you, Father, for the gift of life through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Copyright © 2009, Matthew Perry, drmattperry.com .  Feel free to use this in your worship services for Sanctity of Life Sunday.