Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of December 11, 2024
Written by Rev. Tim Best
Below is a prayer based on Prayers used in “The Methodist Book of Daily Prayer.” This selection comes from “Week 2: Peace” and incorporates the Morning Prayer of Petition and the Evening Prayer of Gratitude. Peace is the theme of the second Sunday of Advent.
Holy God, your son is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, an Prince of Peace. Today I pray for peace, plead for peace, and ask you to fill the places in my life and in our world that need your peace:
• I pray for peace in my inner spirit where I am distracted and anxious.
• I pray for peace in my relationships with family, friends, coworkers, neighbors.
• I pray peace in my community, city, and country where divisiveness seems to reign.
• I pray for peace among people globally, especially where conflict and war are an expected way of life.
• As we prepare to celebrate the coming of your son into the world, may the peace He embodies and offers be made real on earth as it is in heaven.
Gracious God, as I look back on this day, it is too easy to focus on places of discord and division. Instead, I give you thanks for the ways you are working in my life for peace and wholeness. Today God, I thank you for:
• The ways you are working to bring peace to my emotional and mental being,
• The way you are working my relationships, especially those that are strained or fractured,
• The ways you are offering a picture of peace in my church or community.
As I rest and look forward to a new day tomorrow, may I have the eyes to see where you are at work for peace in the world, and may I have the courage to join you in that work (1).
Help us to trust in your peace that we may with confidence and hope pray the prayer your Son Jesus taught us to pray, Saying:
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.
We pray for….
- Complete healing from cataract surgery resulting in corneal swelling.
- Healing from recent surgery and good prognosis.
- A father’s surgery and all of the medical staff
- Feelings of guilt for not being able to alleviate pain of loved one; prayers for peace of mind
- One who asked for an ‘unspoken’ request; Lord, hear her prayer and comfort her.
- The women at Susannah’s House and their babies. Grateful for this ministry of healing from addiction!
We offer prayers of thanksgiving for…
- Good report from neurologist for a member living with Parkinson’s. Thankful for no new progression in the past eight months!
- Being at home after surgery!
- Family being able to travel this season.
- Our new Preschool director! So glad we are opening soon! Praying for children we will welcome!
We continue to pray for….
- A young mother of three who is awaiting breast cancer surgery
- A member’s mother who fell and has two broken vertebrae; prayers for healing and ease of pain.
- A family member whose dementia is progressing rapidly. Prayers needed for direction regarding his care.
- A member’s cousin who has been hospitalized; awaiting liver transplant
- One to have a successful journey on his path to sobriety
- Family members and friends who are going through a difficult time
- Family making decisions about long-term care for parents
- Our church members dealing with cancer treatments
- A man who was involved in car accident; fractured four cervical vertebrae
- A four-year old waiting on a heart transplant
- All who are caring for a loved one – especially a spouse – with dementia
- A member who is going through radiation treatments
- A member whose husband is in hospice care
- Those whose parents are in hospice care
- Those whose parents are in hospice care
- Friends and family members going through difficult times.
(1) Miofsky, Matt, Ed. The Methodist Book of Daily Prayer, Abingdon Press, Nashville 2023. Pg. 7