Prayer for Port Moody

The Dock at Rocky Point, Port Moody - December 28 2008

Tonight was quite interesting. I was invited to say grace at a Civic Banquet at City Hall. It was a large event - about 200 city hall staff, city council men and women and a variety of volunteers who sit on a number of civic committees.

I am quite amazed that a civic government would include a prayer as part of their program, and to invite a Christian pastor! I was given complete freedom to pray as I wish - no restrictions whatsoever on what I could say or not say.

I debated for quite some time about how to end the prayer. In my personal prayers I close with "In Your Name, Amen". Since this was a more public and official prayer, I wondered if I should pray in the name of Jesus, or in the name of Jesus Christ. In the end I went with a Triune ending - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It was quite a fancy event - free booze! We were seated at the mayor's table. Felicia sat right next to him. I sat next to an empty chair as the mayor's wife was ill. There was one other couple at our table - they own a large pub, and the wife sits on a bunch of local committees.

Our table got to the buffet first which was pretty sweet. There was a couple there who had heard me speak at something at Carey College once - they attend Grandview Calvary - lovely couple. Also, some Bahai guy asked if I would speak at some inter-faith thing they were hosting. We'll see if he ever gets back to me.

All in all it was a really fun evening. I was very honored to have been given this brief platform to pray for our city.

Here's the prayer:

Dear God, we pause tonight to offer our gratitude for your many blessings to us. We thank you for Port Moody, for your blessings on us as a city. I thank you for the men and women here tonight who donate their most precious commodity, their time to serving the rest of us, by volunteering. They are a blessing to our city. I pray your blessing on each one of them tonight – may they know that we all appreciate and recognize their service for the rest of us.

I also pray for our mayor Joe Trasolini, our city manager, gaetan royer, our city council men and women and our staff at City Hall. Fill them with your wisdom and discernment as they also serve us by fulfilling their civic duties among us.

Finally, God, we thank you for the food we are about to enjoy. We also pause and pray for those in our community who are struggling financially. We pray that as a community we would be mindful and responsive for those in our city who need extra help and assistance. We thank you for the Share society, who does so much good for our city.

Help us, as a city to continue to serve one another in 2009.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Amen.