Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of July 25, 2021
Written by Rev. Catherine Nance
O God of Invitation, scriptures tell of folks who are far away being brought near by the grace of Jesus Christ. We thank you for the gift of worship that brings us near to you. Some of us have felt far away in recent days – some literally because of travel. Some are far away because of health concerns or fear of being in crowds, some are far away because of guilt or shame or depression. Even when we gather in person, there are those sitting on our same pew who still feel far away. What a gift worship is, O God who gathers us in. Our time of worship draws each of us near to you, and as we each draw closer to your throne of grace, we sense the presence of our brothers and sisters who also long to be near you.
Thank you for gathering us into one body, into one family. Today we bring our fragmented hearts and our broken spirits and you make them whole again. All praise to you, for you welcome all into your household; thus so, may we eagerly greet one another with compassionate spirits each time we are together.
When we bow before you in prayer, our hearts open and our petitions spill out. In speaking aloud to you the worries, the hopes, the anguish, and the joy that are in our hearts, we know you have already turned a listening ear towards us and are already breathing your Spirit into these petitions. Open our ears, O Loving God, that we may hear how you desire us to respond, to think, to act, to dream.
As we pray for people who are far away — citizens of countries worn down by years of oppression and deprivation, citizens whose lives are disrupted by violence, for citizens in our own country who yearn for a return of order and safety, citizens of our northwestern states as forest fires and heatwaves continue. Though all these are distant to us in miles, they are near to us in spirit, for you are the one who joins us all together.
We thank you for this church, for this particular congregation of the body of Christ and for the ministries and opportunities to serve. We give thanks for children who have learned new songs and for youth who have given of their time and energy; we are thankful for Sunday School classes meeting in new ways and reuniting in old rooms. We pray that the church that meets in this building knows full well that their hearts, their arms, their love, and, their awareness moves well beyond the walls to places we may never know.
We are indebted to you, O God, for you so freely listen and accept these murmured prayers, reflecting our dreams, hopes, and gratitude. Listen also, we pray, to these personal concerns and joys that live in the hearts of your people at Church Street:
Thanksgivings:
- Thankful for prayers for brother with cancer
- Prayers appreciated: Correct diagnosis made for young niece having seizures
- One healing well after a fall
- Knee injury is healing well
- Two offer gratitude for the gift of prayer shawls
- Family recovering from Covid
- Father offers gratitude for daughter’s academic awards
- Thanksgiving for generous friends supporting Beacon of Hope
- Injections are offering relief for back pain
- Grateful for prayers: one with back injury has returned to work
Concerns:
- Prayers for family members refusing Covid vaccination
- Friend in mourning – husband died following heart transplant
- Two families isolating – Covid concerns
- Comfort for elderly mother hospitalized
- Continued physical healing of former Sterchi Lodge caretaker & comfort as she mourns the sudden death of her husband
- Healing for friend symptomatic of ALS
- Cousin in Texas, hospitalized with Covid
- Lonely widow in poor health
- Wisdom in diagnosing an intestinal malady
- Prayers for son’s healing: PTSD and addiction
- Family grieving death of mother on Tuesday
- Protection and peace for two church families moving far away
- Strengthening commitment of young married couple
- Mending a broken relationship
- Recovery for member in cancer treatment
- Lonely ill widow
- Two seeking relief from debilitating back pain
- Healing for member — lengthy depression
- Healing for friend — bone marrow transplant
-
One suffering complications following a rattlesnake bite
Lord of All, we, your wandering sheep, will travel roads both familiar and new in the days ahead. Stay close to us, through your grace, that our eyes remain open to your eternal truth; that our ears be open to your holy voice; that our minds be open to your love and comfort. And along the way, wherever we find ourselves, may our hearts beat in rhythm with the heart of Christ, who is the pulse of life itself:
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.
