Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of January 12, 2022
Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
Welcoming One, we can imagine you now in our mind’s eye, with your arms outstretched, bidding us draw close. You must know quite well how overwhelmed and vulnerable we feel. The pandemic continues to unfold around the globe and the media churns out unrelenting stories of instability and discontent. Even though your mercies have brought us through more than a year of dread, we are still rattled. We peer out the window at the same world, yet it seems a strangely unfamiliar place. Ah, but then our eyes fix on those stately trees that have withstood both storm and drought, as if they possessed some secret power. It is no secret, though, for far beneath their leafy grandeur and textured skin breathes a labyrinth of roots, a network securely embedded deep within the earth. Tighten our hold on you, O Faith that Never Fails, that we might also withstand the torrents of the time in which we live. Make our grasp firm and stable, we pray, till we also stand as resilient witnesses of our faith in you.
Welcoming God, we praise you.
In your mercy and wisdom, you have held the life of this world as a parent holds a beloved child, always wishing the best for us; indeed, it was you who formed us and the earth which nourishes and sustains us. By calling us into a community of believers, and by endowing us with talents for building up your kingdom, you have multiplied and extended our own strength. Help us acknowledge the gifts you have planted within us, Lord, that we might labor together for your purpose and your glory always.
Empowering God, we praise you.
How grateful we remain for the hearts infused by love that are beating every day throughout the world, near and far. We gaze in wonder at those who face real dangers in taking your word to forgotten territories, who tenderly care for the ill and the dying, for those who live sacrificially that others may have their needs met, for those who stand true to your calling. They are as trees in our midst, whose roots hold steady and whose acts rise ever heavenward. We thank you for these noble disciples who live out their faith in such varied, but mostly unheralded ways.
Calling and Confirming God, we praise you.
And as Jesus always reminded us of your loving concern, on behalf of your people in our church family, we extend these praises and prayers:
- Two express gratitude for support from our Parish Health Team
- Aunt gives thanks for safe birth of twin nephews on Tuesday
- Three grateful for recovery from Covid
- Gratitude for work of our Covid Task Force
- Family celebrates birth of healthy son on January 8
- Prayers appreciated, hospitalized mother is improving
- Brain surgery was successful, tumor benign
- Family grateful for holiday visit with adult children
- God’s grace and comfort for family, sudden death of young father
- Three members whose parents died during the holidays
- Healing grief for husband experiencing a divorce
- Premature nephew in ICU, prayers for his survival
- Prayers for one having a driving test on Tuesday
- Grieving family: Niece killed, leaving two young children
- Healing prayers for three brave women in cancer treatment
- A niece’s husband nearing death, that it may be peaceful
- Member with ALS, strength for wife, sole caregiver
- Two members with severe vision impairment and neuropathy
- Husband with memory loss, courage for wife
- Healing for mother recovering from bladder surgery
- Beloved daughter with Covid complications, for healing
- Guidance for wife, caregiver of husband with Parkinson’s
- Healing of friend recovering from serious accident
- Continued recovery from ankle injury
- College-age grandson battling depression, now outpatient
- Wisdom, guidance for young single mother with 3 children
- A father in hospice care, his sons who are grieving
- Healing prayers for an alcoholic
- Two suffering from depression and Parkinson’s-related illness
- Safe delivery of first grandchild on Friday
Caring God, hear our prayer.
Keeper of All Our Hours, thank you for receiving our prayers and for forgiving us when we fail to notice the ways you are moving in our world. We confess that we do quake when bad new spins, though your grace remains sufficient. May the blessings you have brought us come to mind even before our heads rest upon our pillows this night. And then, may our eyes be opened in new ways tomorrow, that we might behold your stirring around us and within us. In the name of the One who remains our refuge in every era, we offer these prayers:
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.
