BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Prayers for the Church Street Family
September 8, 2020
Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade
Hope of the World, summer is behind us, yet you still send blossom-scented winds across the lawn. Riots rage in the darkness, but morning still gives way to the long yellow fingers of the sun. Destruction and death walk our streets, but still you raise up people who breathe out hope. We know, O God, although you are hidden from our eyes, that you are never far away, and that you are moving to liberate us, even saving us from ourselves. In your quiet way, you are setting in motion your plan of redemption. Open us and our nation to that plan, O Lord, despite our fears and anxieties. Open us to that plan, even if it comes in a way not of our own choosing!
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
God Who Speaks to Every Age, Jesus blessed the poor in spirit, saying theirs was the kingdom of heaven. In making this proclamation, was he reflecting only upon the sad and shabby who surrounded him that afternoon? Or was he perhaps speaking to those of us who, even today, are not poor, but who have too much? Could he have meant that if we empty ourselves of our many possessions, our pretense, our clamoring to get ahead, our cynicism, we might find the true blessing that comes with emptiness? Sweeping out the spirit – where shall we begin?
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Especially, O Faithful One, we pray for those who are sick and dying, for those whose debts keep them awake at night, for those who are hungry, for those separated from loved ones, for all enduring the pain of divorce, for those who are in danger. Touch each with your love, and lead us to tend to those who long for someone who cares. Send your grace as well to these members of our church family who cry out for help; and receive our offers of thanks for the myriad of ways you are already tending your flock:
- Grateful for prayers: husband home from hospital after heart surgery
- One thankful for staff & clergy creatively binding the church together
- Gratitude: 2 young college students steadily recovering from Covid-19
- CSUMC celebrates 22 new members who joined the church on Sunday
- Prayers for one in court proceeding this week, for dismissal of case
- Dear friend enduring lengthy cancer ailment, for his family
- Couple offer thanks for the birth of a beautiful son on Friday; please continue prayers for complete healing of a heart complication
- Cherished mother in hospice care at home & her family standing by
- Healing of elderly father with Covid – hospitalized in Birmingham
- Healing mercies for college-age son & 2 families suffering with virus
- That hunger may be alleviated by generosity – September is Hunger Action Month
- Comfort for family: ill father recently moved to longterm care facility
- Comfort for member mourning the untimely death of longtime friend
- Lift up a wife suffering from addictions & her husband trying to help
- Prayers for young father in need of new cancer treatment
- Loved ones in nursing facilities; families trying to make wise decisions
Thank you, Holy One, for sharing our pain, for bearing our grief, for reminding us that sorrow will never have the final word. May our hearts overflow with gratitude for the gifts you offer from your own heart.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We almost always feel the need to apologize for our immature and wandering prayers, Listening God, but remind us that you do not judge our poor phraseology or faulty sentence structure. You only desire that we seek your companionship and that we arrive with sincere hearts. May we always come in that true and humble spirit that was so evident in your Son Jesus, who gave us these words 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.
