Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of February 2, 2022
Rev. Pat Clendenen
Loving and gracious God, in the quietness of these moments, speak to our hearts. We come to your house each week to offer our praise and thanksgiving with our words, our songs, our acts of commitment, and affirmations of faith. We long to know you completely and fully; and yet, we live in a world that pulls us in so many directions, distracting us from our purpose as the Body of Christ. Even this day we remember all our fancy words and acts of service mean nothing if they are not infused and undergirded with love, the kind of love you revealed to us in Jesus Christ.
God of love and God of power, all our lives belong to you.
Wise and loving God, you have woven your creation together, using your relationship with us and ours with each other to give rich, intricate, and diverse patterns to all of life. We give thanks that you have created us for community, calling us into relationship with one another. Forgive us for our internal conflict, and for our inability at times to see beyond ourselves. Teach us to love one another, even when we disagree, and to pour our energy into seeking understanding so that we may work toward the good of all your creation.
God of love and God of power, all our lives belong to you.
Lord, you call caregivers to serve, and you give gifts to make their service possible. We thank you today for the willing and gifted hands and hearts in our Stephen Ministry. Thank you for our Stephen Leaders, who gladly serve to keep our Stephen Ministry flourishing. Thank you for our Stephen Ministers, who faithfully meet with their care receivers, extending the care of Christ to those who need it most. Thank you also for the support of our pastors and staff, and for all those who keep this ministry growing in our congregation.
God of love and God of power, all our lives belong to you.
And because you have blessed our community here at Church Street, we who depend upon your love, mercy, and grace bring to you these prayers offered by our brothers and sisters in Christ:
- Celebrating successful February 2nd surgery
- Gratitude for prayers: A transplant donor has been found
- Appreciation for all church volunteers
- Member grateful for negative cancer scan
- Thanksgiving for all who are being called to join our church
- Gratitude: all who have generously pledged for 2022 church ministries
- Prayers for wife and mother recovering from February 2 surgery
- Healing for one in ICU, Covid complications
- One asks for prayers for her Sunday School class
- Prayers for recovery: Church families affected by Covid
- Comfort for widower who recently moved to assisted living
- Dear family friend with cancer, that a route to healing may be found
- Two couples who are adjusting to health challenges at home
- Continued prayers for two members in cancer treatment
- Strength and comfort for family: Cousin died of a stroke last week
- Continued prayers: Ill adult daughter, severe effects of Covid
- Comfort for families of three church members who died last week
- God’s presence with an uncle who is aging and infirm
- Courage for brother in military who may be deployed to Ukraine
We are truly blessed as a congregation to have a multi-layered system of care, making it possible to serve the needs of all people. We give you thanks for the vision and wisdom of those who breathed life into each of these ministries – Congregational Care, Parish Health Team, and Benevolence Team – and for all who continue to make these ministries a vital part of our mission. May we never become complacent, thinking there is no need to expand our understandings of your longings for your creation. Surprise us with new visions, and give us the courage to follow the path you set before us, trusting that Christ is alive and goes before us to show and share what love can do.
God of love and God of power, all our lives belong to you.
Remind us, O God, that, as we move in the world, though scattered, we remain the Church, the Body of Christ in action. Let us be workers together with you, performing deeds of mercy and kindness, and giving evidence of Christ’s love in all that we do, for it is in his name that we offer our prayer…….
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.
