Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of April 11, 2021
Written by Rev. Catherine Nance
O God of the Living Christ, we thank you for the opportunity to worship together. Each Sunday, some gather in the same room, sitting on the same pew; others worship on YouTube and internet. We think of Christians meeting for worship across this city and all around the world – different styles of worship. People we will never meet. People we cannot see – and yet you see us. You see our hearts, our desire to worship you – our desire to know you more fully and dearly. You see our living and our striving to be faithful disciples. Thank you for loving us and receiving us.
We are humbled in this Easter season that you call each of us into a new creation; thank you for allowing us to share in the beauty of your world. The colors of spring around us and the hints of new life reflect your joy in creation. Forgive us when we abuse your earth that you have called us to care for. Make us mindful of the animals, the plants, the water, the air – all life-giving – all connected to the other. Forgive us when we make ourselves lord over creation instead of you.
O God, we are grateful for a nurturing church community that allows us to ask questions, to wonder and to ponder. We think particularly of our Confirmation Class who met on Sunday, nearing the end of their journey but yet at the start of a new one! We are grateful for fellow disciples; those who are new to faith and bring a freshness and exuberance with their inquiries. We are grateful for those long-time disciples who bring a wisdom and patience but who still yearn to know you more deeply. May our words of faith always match our living. When people see us, O God, may they see the reflection of your love and grace.
And as a community of faith, bound together through the immensity of your love and grace, we lift up to you both our praises and our concerns this day. We are a blessed people, aware of our reliance upon your steady guidance, so receive these offerings we voice in this hour:
Joys:
-Two couples celebrate new pregnancies
-One celebrates unanticipated financial assistance
-Thanksgiving: latest scans showed no new cancer
-Grateful for church’s confirmation & youth programs
-Two tolerating lymphoma treatments well
-Gratitude for prayers: knee therapy completed
-Thankful for prayers: back surgery went smoothly
-Prayers appreciated: prostate surgery successful
Concerns:
-Patience for husband in assisted living
-Healing for member recovering from back surgery
-Continued healing for one having infusions
-Healing of painful tear in shoulder muscle
-Upholding all working for solutions to gun violence
-God’s presence with a member grieving untimely death of stepson
-Beloved father – newly diagnosed lung cancer
-Guidance & strength for one caring for an ill brother
-Ongoing prayers for one enduring cancer treatments
-Solace for family mourning sudden death of beloved sister
-Member seeks relief from a painful leg ailment
-Strength for husband whose wife may enter palliative care
-Courage & strength for friend with intestinal cancer
-Young coach at Emory desperately ill with sepsis & his 3-year-old son diagnosed with leukemia
-Continued healing & for restoration of vision
-Improvement for one suffering from anemia
Risen Christ, for whom no door is locked, no entrance barred: open the doors of our hearts, that we may seek the good of others and walk the joyful road of sacrifice and peace. We offer now the words that Christ taught us to pray:
