Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of November 24, 2021
Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness, come into his presence with singing. Know that the Lord is God. It is he that has made us and we are his; We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name. For the Lord is good, his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
(Ps 100:1-5)
Today indeed we make a joyful noise before the Lord and raise our voices in song! O One of Unsearchable Greatness, we remember how your breath wafted over the chaos, bringing a sublime calm and order. We remember how you fashioned from nothingness the heavens and the earth, both teeming with life. We ponder your terrifying power that created the mountains and called forth the waters, giving them shape and order and purpose. And in your own loneliness, you gave life to humankind, counting us as your beloved companions. How mystifying is your universe, O Lord, and our words fail to touch its grandeur. And how privileged we are that we might join our voices with all generations past in blessing your Holy Name!
God of All Goodness, hear our prayer.
You have honored us with Jesus Christ, whom you sent to reveal the truth of your love, your hopes and dreams for your people. And even when he was ignored, abused, and crucified, he told us he understood and that we were forgiven. How astonishing is the depth of your affection and the wideness of your mercy, O Lord!
God of All Goodness, hear our prayer.
We give you thanks, O Guide Above and Beside Us, that we can bring our prayers to you, for you are the God who listens to our lives; and we know there have been moments when we have chosen the wrong over the right. We remember those instances when we could have helped others, but we attended to our own priorities. There were those persons we could have befriended, but we hurried past. There were times we could have shared a loving thought with someone who was hurting, but we remained silent. There were occasions when we could have expressed our faith in you, yet we uttered mere platitudes. We thank you, Merciful One, that it is not too late for our transformation. Blot out the sullied parts of our past and cleanse our motivations. We can never reach perfection, but we trust in your Spirit to take everything that we do and use it for your good purposes.
God of All Goodness, hear our prayer.
Spirit of Wholeness, pour out your balm of healing upon your people who are in pain and sorrow. Heal the divisions and brokenness within our own nation, we pray. Our hearts also break when we hear of migrants from the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia who endure freezing temperatures and deprivation as they seek a place to call home; when we learn of the increased violence against the innocents in Sudan; as we receive news that 14 million people in Afghanistan now face daily hunger; and as another Covid19 wave sweeps across Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Russia. Forgive us when we separate ourselves from the suffering of others near and far. May all who are hurting cling to you even when their hope has grown thin.
God of All Goodness, hear our prayer.
And as we offer petitions on behalf of our friends at Church Street, strengthen our sense of kinship with all whom you love:
- Church family celebrates a son’s engagement
- Member grateful for prayers, recovering well following surgery
- Thankful an ill friend is home from hospital
- Grateful to all who assembled and delivered 130 Thanksgiving boxes for our hungry neighbors
- Gratitude for a friend’s successful knee replacement
- Appreciation for prayers: Dear friend died in peace and comfort
- One praises God for her multitude of blessings
- Thankful for prayers: Ill father returning home for Thanksgiving
- Heart patient thankful for prayers of church on his behalf
- Gratitude for husband’s healing following heart surgery
- Husband thankful for wife’s recovery from bronchial infection
- Thanksgiving for continued healing following surgery
- God’s healing presence with couple who remain secluded due to illness
- Safety for a young son, musician who travels widely
- All who are grieving during the holidays
- Safe travel to California for soon-to-be-grandmother
- Courage, guidance for one enduring physical emotional trials
- A mother who faces another colon surgery and healing of her dangerous infection
- Healing relationship between a father and his adult children
- Continued prayers for member with vision impairment
- Correct diagnosis of Parkinson’s-related illness
- Peace for a dying brother and the presence of the Spirit with all family members
- Family sustaining multiple challenges during the holidays
- Cherished father in rehab, in failing health
- Prayers for our church and our 2021 stewardship effort
- God’s guidance and healing for a mother with cancer diagnosis
- Continued strength for member in cancer treatment
- Prayers for gravely ill daughter and her distraught family
- Correct diagnosis for member experiencing heart problems
- Upholding church family grieving death of young son
- Four family friends mourning deaths of loved ones
- Sister who faces cancer scans December 3
God of Goodness, we celebrate your presence with us and pray you would wrap us all in your peace each night, as you turn down the lights of heaven. May our dreams be filled with memories of your eternal grace. We lay these prayers at your feet in the name of your most caring Son Jesus, who taught us to pray in this way:
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.
