BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Prayers for the Church Street Family
September 14, 2020
Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade
O Great Seeker, we praise you for never abandoning your search for us. You surround us with wonders of creation while we are looking the other way. You see us laboring for that which does not satisfy; time and time again you nudge us back toward the true course. May this be the day we seek you out in the corners of our lives, realizing that you will meet us half-way. We will recognize you as the old friend with outstretched arms, ready to share our lives again, ready to pick up where we left off all those years ago.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
All-knowing One, you understand who and what we are. Before any words are uttered, you know already what it is that delights our hearts, and what saddens and disturbs us. You are aware of the harsh and bitter words we have spoken and the ways in which we have hurt others. May we reach down into the depths of our souls and deal with the prejudice and indifference that we have long harbored. Hear our private confessions which we now offer to your ear alone . . . . . . . Jesus said: I forgive you; I love you; Go and sin no more. Write those words upon our hearts, we pray, that we might turn our backs on what is past, rising to move forward in newness.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
God of All Hopefulness, when we turn to you, the Rock that shelters us, we know we are safe from all that threatens. As you have brought goodness our way, we offer deepest thanks. And with hopeful hearts we lay before you all these prayers from our church family. For certain we are often weakened and tense, but we believe in the One who will answer us in due time, and will turn our mourning into dancing:
- Gratitude: elderly father with virus, now home from hospital
- Member thankful: has resumed all activities following kidney surgery
- Thankfulness for the life of a cherished mother who died peacefully Sunday
- Grateful that father with heart ailment has been released from the hospital
- Gratitude for the life of beloved member who succumbed to cancer on Thursday, continued prayers for bereft family & friends
- Healing of NICU newborn, that lungs may clear, comfort for his parents
- Solace for grieving families of 3 who perished in a tragic plane crash
- All school personnel guiding our children & youth; all anxious parents
- Healing for friend in rehab following dangerous bicycle accident
- Comfort for family of sister-in-law who died on Friday in GA
- Family of 9 quarantined due to virus infection, healing for one most ill
- Strength for one whose court case did not turn out favorably & her family
- Support for family: adult stepson died suddenly in an accident Sept. 3
- Wisdom for leaders, healing of our nation, for order to be restored
- Adult son in NV living alone as he heals from major surgery
- Wisdom for all making decisions concerning in-person worship
- For a friend’s steady recovery from hip surgery
May the Light of God keep us, the power of God sustain us, and the caress of God heal us. And may each day ahead see a deepening of our gratitude and commitment, that our very lives might become signs of the kingdom for which we pray:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
