BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Prayers for the Church Street Family
September 30, 2020
Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade
Under leaden skies the rain patters lightly on the cedars, as softly as a cat moves into a room, licking away its residue of summer dust. The summer has brought its wonders but also fiery protests and the hot smell of death. If your mercy does fall as the gentle rain from heaven, we so need it now. As your sweet drops brush clean the window panes, we might press close, peering out through the clear glass once again. Could that be you, Holy One, huddled within the evergreens, weeping for your children gone astray?
In the chill of autumn, heavy branches bend low in worship, as needles drop to the wet ground. These are as residue of regrets, broken promises, words spoken in haste, missed opportunities for reconciliation. Bathe us with those steady showers of longed-for healing, we pray; and not only ourselves, but for all who suffer everywhere: for lives ended before their time, for loved ones crumpled over by grief, for the imprisoned, the disheartened, the poverty-stricken, the dying. We are a nation of parched souls, thirsting for holy wisdom. Lord, we have been splashed with such grace through the centuries that we have taken it for granted. Rinse away our collective sense of entitlement, we pray.
And grant that our tears may mingle with yours until that sweet-smelling vapor rises from the well-watered earth – the aroma of newness that tells us what is past is past, and what has never been is still possible.
In your mercy, we lay before you these individual joys and concerns that are much on the hearts of your people at Church Street. You know what we need before we ask, but we offer all these, as Jesus welcomed the concerns of all whom he met:
- A father’s outlook is brighter following a painful divorce
- Happy couple grateful for their upcoming December wedding
- Gratitude: our 3rd graders who received their Bibles on Sunday
- Thankful for the life of a faithful witness who died on Saturday
- Prayers for couple dealing with damage to their property
- Prayers & protection for young teacher: in isolation in Mexico City
- College students under stress: academics & threat of illness
- Healing for troubled family, dealing w/ many health issues
- Prayers for 3 studying for the bar exam as the date nears
- Healing of dear friend enduring painful radiation burns
- Prayers: cherished sister in hospice care in FLA; peace for family
- Healing of a mother’s infection
- 2 relatives with Covid-19, also recovering from Hurricane Sally
- Two who suffer from heart failure, for improvement
- Healing of grief: Parents of 39-year-old who died of addictions
- Adult children in TX, endeavoring to help mother w/ dementia
- Dear friend in TX w/ dementia; strength for adult son & caregiver
- Friend with kidney cancer, continuing to trust in God thru all his days
Give us your reassurance, Loving Father, as we move through these troubled times. Whether your encouragement comes as the steady tapping of raindrops on our shoulders, the sound of the earth drinking in your refreshing shower, or as a sigh that comes when something mysterious has happened. We will look for whatever you send, and will continue to pray the prayer your Son taught us:
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.
