BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Prayers for the Church Street Family
January 18, 2021
Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade
Mountains have a dreamy way
of closing up a noisy day
In quiet covers, cool and grey.
(Leigh Hunt)
O God of Presence, the greyness settles in across our beloved mountains and calls us home, much as the farmer leads his herd into warm stalls at dusk. Thank you for calling us to set aside our temporal pastimes and turn our thoughts to the eternal. May we welcome your invitation to silence an often blustery day, recalling the overlooked gifts these past hours have presented . . . . . . . . . . All praise be to you for the goodness that colors our lives!
O One Who Summons, today our nation has honored your modern prophet, Martin Luther King, Jr., one who freely sacrificed his own health, comforts, and his very life to show us a better way. Although we may not be as gifted as he, you have summoned each of us to live into your dream: Where we find hearts fearful, may we impart courage. Where there is distress, let us speak of peace with love. Where impossibilities close every door, let us open windows of imagination. And where distrust thrives, may we plant reconciliation. Alone, O Lord, our efforts would be hollow; yet through your power, all things are possible.
Our earthly pilgrimage takes us along rough terrain, but as Jesus entered the world as one of us, he also traveled those craggy byways and suffered setbacks beyond our comprehension. The Blessed One asks no more of us than he asked of himself. So as we bear our trials and our temptations, remind us that you are with us as we make every limping step. You are even near enough to hear these private longings of our hearts . . . . . . . . . . . and also these praises and petitions of your children at Church Street:
- Prayers appreciated: Wife requires no surgery
- Family celebrates the birth of a new baby
- Member offers praises for her new home
- Two offer thanks for their vaccinations
- Thanksgiving for an unexpected gift and visit
- Gratitude: Sister-in-law hospitalized with Covid is much improved
- Gratitude for successful heart surgery; continued prayers for complete recovery
- Prayers for insight and humility for our nation’s leaders at this critical juncture
- That equanimity will reign throughout the inauguration
- Prayers for employer with asthma and Covid
- Healing mercies for a cousin following a major stroke
- Family grieving death of a mother from Covid
- Speedy distribution of the virus vaccines
- Upholding dear sister, isolated and very depressed
- Sister overwhelmed with caregiving
- Two who endure chemo side effects
- Young mother who needs employment
- Healing of one recuperating from heart surgery
- Comfort for family of a pastor who died on Thursday
- Healing: Husband seriously ill with Covid
- Prayers for a good lab report for sister
- One awaiting approval for chemo meds
- Friend:Healing of wounds from car wreck
- Granddaughters recovering from Covid
Bundle all our prayers, Sacred One, and fashion them into a pillow of grace. And upon it we will take our rest, knowing you will keep us and all whom we love in the security and eternity of your embrace. We close our eyes in awe and thanksgiving this night with the prayer of Jesus upon our lips:
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.
