Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of July 27, 2022
Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
We do rejoice, O One worthy of all praising! We delight in all that you have created for our benefit, for our sustenance, and for our pleasure. Each surging stream, twittering bird, or boxwood bending in the breeze reminds us of the fragility of such holy gifts. Share with us you message, O Magnanimous God, that it isn’t too late to repay your love with our grateful stewardship. Our bodies, too, these earthly tents with all their intricacies and abilities, are blessed offerings from your holy hand. We acknowledge the privilege of walking upon the earth, to be part of the human race, for the freedoms our nation provides, for all who came before us as models of the faith, and for holy scripture which reminds us to whom we belong.
Holy Lord, receive our prayer.
You meet us, O Christ, in our shadows and sorrow, and because of your illuminating love, we see how easily we are drawn into the dark web of error. We have routinely closed our ears to the cries of the hurting around us. We have kept a safe distance, unavailable to those in mourning, separated from the homeless, the betrayed, the despairing. We have forgotten that the grace you have lavished upon us is to be shared – your means of drawing us nearer to one another. Guide us through the thick vale of detachment, we pray, that we might emerge as tested light-bearers, whose actions link us securely with our brothers and sisters near and far. Our pains and theirs may be different, but our need for your healing grace is the same for all. We would be conduits of that grace.
Holy Lord, receive our prayer.
The Psalmist says all who seek refuge from you, O Lord, you will shelter under your wide wings. Though words are rarely adequate to express our inner joys and desires, fears and perils, we remember each of these who most recently seek your refuge. You are acquainted with each situation already, yet receive these appeals and thanksgivings anew from your people at Church Street who count you as their Sanctuary and Shelter:
- Gratitude for successful heart surgery on Friday
- Thankful: No complications with partial knee replacement
- Grateful for prayers: Invalid relative recovering from Covid
- Thanksgiving for releasing of grief for a member
- Family thankful for infant daughter’s baptism Sunday
- Appreciation for our faithful ushers & greeters
- Gratitude: Outpouring of school supply gifts for students and teachers in our neighborhood
- An aunt in Texas undergoing treatment for pulmonary fibrosis
- A grandchild in North Carolina (4 yrs) having tests for meningitis
- Prayers for mother nearing death & her son giving care
- Healing for member recovering from boating accident
- A sister in assisted living, visits restricted due to Covid
- Strength, guidance for a mother hospitalized
- Victims of flooding, help for families seeking restoration
- Brother-in-law with terminal cancer
- Husband grieving the recent death of his wife
- Daughter seeking wisdom in caring for her demanding mother
- Healing for a friend’s daughter (14) having seizures
- Prayers for daughter in LA, beginning her 1st job after college
- A family seeks strength, struggling with a recent diagnosis
At the end of this day, may we look back and see how your grace has sustained us, how you have steadied us and have kept our feet from falling. And, as we turn this day page, now finished, may what little good we have done be counted for your glory and for the abiding mercy of our Savior 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.
