BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Prayers for the Church Street Family
January 7, 2021
Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade
O God, Our Refuge and Strength, although hours have passed, we can still hear the roar of the angry crowd, the breaking of glass, the noise of destruction. The unsettling sounds, sights, and shock of yesterday we will not soon forget. And we live under the specter of future turbulence. Heal our painful memories, we pray, and enable us to put an end to the fear we harbor inside. Turn our unease into strength and resolve, O Mighty Stronghold, that we may never settle our disagreements in a violent manner.
Eternal Harmony, you are the servant of none, and in your goodness, you embedded your rhythm and unity within all creation. Malevolence in all its forms introduces a dissonance more far-reaching than we realize. You have given us the life-song of Christ as our template, so may his psalm of love, peace, justice, and forgiveness be the anthem we sing with the living of our days.
In the solitude of this evening, with our silent breaths, we offer gratitude for the ways in which your grace has touched us this day, especially in these instances . . . . . . . . . . And absolve us of these missteps we have taken in recent times . . . . . . . . . . In your mercy, receive all these personal prayers offered by your friends in the Church Street family:
- Grateful for prayers: A surgery went smoothly this morning
- One thankful for a promising medical report
- Gratitude: Member healing well from hand surgery
- Appreciation for all who helped restore order during yesterday’s violence in D.C.
- Continued prayers for one with heart condition
- Prayers for all who are working to heal our nation’s wounds
- Comfort for families whose loved ones died in the January 6 fracas
- That peace with justice will become our way of life
- Healing for friend in her 7th week of hospitalization with Covid
- Healing for daughter with recurrence of cancer
- Comfort for family mourning death of mother
- God’s presence for all who are lonely and isolated
- Prayers for rapid distribution of vaccine
- Continued prayers for one recovering from heart surgery
- Strength for member coping with chemo side effects
- Prayers for educators and students at every level
- Courage and strength for one beginning chemo tomorrow
- God’s presence with one who is discouraged
In this season of Epiphany, we remember the Star that pointed the way for the cluster of weary travelers. As we rest this night, may its beam continue to shine above us, infusing us with the assurance that we are never really lost when Christ is with us. And when morning comes, may we feel that its beam within, as we rise to worship and follow that road of service that leads to Jesus, who taught us to 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.
