BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Prayers for the Church Street Family
September 7, 2020
Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,
as laboring for the Lord, not for human masters.
Colossians 3:23
O God Who Gives Us Purpose, multitudes need quiet rest from their work and are thankful for this Labor Day. May we pause to raise gratitude for those who labor on our behalf, especially those we rarely see: ones who harvest and gather our food; who deliver groceries and goods, who stock the shelves; firefighters, police, utility and mine workers, and all who undertake dangerous assignments; those who risk their own health by caring for the ill; those who comfort the sick and the dying; public servants who manage our towns, keep our streets clean, ensure our safety, administer our schools and educate our children. We pray for all willing workers upon whom our own lives depend.
God of Grace, hear our prayer.
Eternal Advocate, while we acknowledge these in service for the common good, we remember the many who have a heart for work, yet whose hands remain idle. Due to down-sizing or skills that have been ruled obsolete, their long search for employment has ended in emptiness. Make a way in the desert of despair for those waiting in hope for a chance to labor. For others who invest long hours in repetitive drudgery, create for them some avenue of purposefulness in their lives, where they can find the fullness and joy that you intend for all your children.
God of Grace, hear our prayer.
All-Seeing One, we confess that ours is a nation with undisguised flaws, a tarnished history, often operating with questionable motives. We are an imperfect people quarreling among ourselves and with our neighbors. You, however, have used our imperfections to bring about your good purposes in the world. In your mercy, continue to show us how our insatiable desire for goods greatly impacts those in impoverished regions, where many work in deplorable conditions for unjust wages. Forgive us, Lord, and remind us that when we take advantage of the less fortunate, we are wounding Christ, whose heart is moved when even the gentle sparrow falls.
God of Grace, hear our prayer.
And to you, Holy One, who never take a respite, we humbly name our praises for the wonders you have brought about in our lives; and also we lift our deepest concerns to your wisdom and mercy, knowing your love has no end:
- Grateful for prayers: a sister’s leg injury did not require amputation
- Prayers appreciated: elderly mother died peacefully on Friday
- Happy couple offer gratitude for their 60th wedding anniversary
- Gratitude: mother with leukemia is able to continue chemotherapy
- Thanksgiving: member with painful shingles is almost well
- Family celebrates the birth of a beautiful baby boy on Friday; please continue prayers for healing of a heart complication
- Prayers for one in court proceeding this week, for dismissal of case
- Cherished mother in hospice care at home & her family standing by
- That hunger may be alleviated by generosity – September is Hunger Action Month
- Recovery from Covid-19 for 2 sons in college
- Mercy to surround a very ill wife in assisted living & her grieving husband
- Comfort for member mourning the untimely death of longtime friend
- Healing mercies for 2 families with multiple members ill with virus
- Lift up a wife suffering from addictions & her husband trying to help
- Prayers for young father in need of new cancer treatment
- Ill & lonely loved ones in nursing facilities & their families struggling to make wise decisions on their behalf
- Family mourning the accidental death of beloved father last week
God of Grace, hear our prayer.
Give us a heart to labor in your service, for we are never too young or too old, too rich or too needy, to bring your good news, to extend a hand to the broken-hearted, to offer hope to the forlorn. As we are linked together by your love, may all our works glorify your name. For Christ’s sake, we make 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.
