BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Prayers for the Church Street Family
March 1, 2021
Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade
O Fountain of Life, the sky above is gunmetal gray, matching the grayness of our outlook. But in evening’s sinking light, we can still make out the gnarled bark of the barren trees glistening in the falling rain. Like giant sponges they drink in every drop pouring down. In their ancient wisdom they seem to understand they will need all the sustenance you send for drier days to come. You know there will be barren times in the days ahead when our faith will tend to wither, so shower your prudence upon our thirsty souls, too, Lord, that we may also drink fully of what you have to teach us this season. Drench us, we pray, that by springtime, we will have become as strong and as resilient as the luminous oaks.
A wise one once taught that our days are what we make of them. Forgiving One, we confess that we allow mere trivialities shape our attitudes. We all have days when the car won’t start, when the roof springs a leak, when the dog has to be rushed to the vet, when the computer is sluggish. Help us rise above these everyday nuisances as we bring to mind those impoverished ones who must walk the streets of despair each and every day: the disabled mentally and physically, the grief-stricken and the lonely, the voiceless and the powerless whom no one notices. Help us set aside those petty irritants that color our days and use our energy to pray for and to serve those whom the world has forgotten. Even Jesus’ own words remind us how close the downtrodden are to your own heart: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.”
All praise to you, God of Goodness, for the way you paint our path with renewal. Our gratitude for this interval of Lent, these days of introspection that give us space to shift our priorities, to realign our attitudes, to become closer to our Master. The Christian life always asks something of us, an in return we have the honor of serving our Ever-Renewing Savior.
As we close out this day you have granted us, our spirits are lifted by the particular mercies you have imparted, especially . . . . . . . . . . Certain of your sheltering ways, we now commit to your continued care each of these petitions offered by our Church Street family:
- Family celebrates the birth of healthy baby boy
- Prayers appreciated: Covid sufferer is improved
- One grateful for healing prayers – now back at work
- Family thankful for support during bereavement
- Gratitude: An injury is healing
- Healing of a broken relationship
- Prayers for a clear pathology report
- Upholding one facing treatment for lymphoma
- Friend of 50 years with pancreatic cancer & his wife who is caregiver
- Prayers: Colleague on ventilator with Covid
- Upholding family whose wife/sister died on Saturday
- Prayers for one having cancer surgery March 5
- Two seeking promising work
- Colleague facing whipple surgery March 4
- Healing for mother recovering from stroke
- Solace for parents in loss of a newborn
- One mourning the end of a 2-year relationship
- Family grieving a young person’s suicide
- Two members in cancer treatment
- Healing for member recovering from knee surgery
- Easing of anxiety for young mother in final weeks of pregnancy
May we welcome the darkness that covers us and listen as your mercy falls as gently as the rain upon us. Wrap us, and all whom we love, in your protection and grant us a peaceful night. And should dreams unfold in the hours of rest, may they reveal the deep love of the Caring Christ, who taught us to pray:
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.
