BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Prayers for the Church Street Family
February 1, 2021
Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade
Wait on the Lord, be of good courage
and he shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord. (Ps 27:14)
O Great Silence, you live beyond the realm of words, in that space we rarely visit. Turn off that spigot of chatter that floods our minds and our mouths, and for this one evening may we join you there to merely keep company with you in your deep mystery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Teach us the beauty of regular resting in you, that we may learn what true restoration is. In our culture where highest praise is directed to production, remind us that we are esteemed by you each time we seat ourselves at your feet and take in whatever glories you choose to whisper.
Once filled with summer’s happy green fans, the oak’s bare branches now wave to us through the windowpane. The empty trees take their losses with more grace than we, knowing in their ancient wisdom that fretting is futile. Our own losses these past long months have been bitter, and we find it difficult to open our hands and let them fall freely as fragmented leaves. But, Nourishing God, as you enrich the soil with leafy shards, so use our shredded despair and broken dreams to fortify us. We may never stand as stately as the oaks, but you will make us strong enough to lean into the winter winds, as we wait for your next season of greenness.
Within your great silence, you have heard the cries of our hearts and have blessed us in many ways. We pray that, as you already have bolstered the spirits of many, you would attend also to these friends and families whose hope is in you:
- Three celebrate recovery from Covid
- Thankful family members have received vaccines
- Gratitude: Husband’s depression is lifting
- Thanksgiving: Mother discharged from hospital
- Prayers appreciated: Young niece with infection now home
- Gratitude for prayers: Son was able to visit his dying mother
- Thankful that a heart malady is improving
- God’s grace for colleague whose cancer has spread
- For insurance to cover chemotherapy
- Comfort and grace for those who mourn
- All who need virus vaccines
- Blessings upon all healthcare workers and volunteers assisting with vaccinations
- Prayers for shrinkage of pancreatic tumor
- Comfort for family grieving death of mother
- Decreased pain for cancer victim
- Healing mercy for sister recovering from surgery
- Two recovering from serious heart issues
- Infant cousin with tumor on spine
- Continued prayers: One enduring chemo
- Strength for caregiver under great stress
May your Silent Spirit rest our minds and hearts as we sleep, calming our fears and erasing our sins. Fold us and all whom we love into your embrace, we pray; and tomorrow, may we rise forgiven and free to serve in the name of Christ, 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.
