Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of April 12, 2022
Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
Lord, we watched as you sat astride that lowly donkey, painting a scene that echoed your self-effacing mission on this earth. We may have strewn our jackets down to soften your stony ride; we may have waved our palm branches as enthusiastically as the others; we may even have shouted your name when you passed by. All well and good; yet we confess that our steps became slow as we approached the city gates, and the truth is, many of us still hover near those outer walls. We are fearful to follow too closely, for so much is asked of us. Parades are one thing, but what if there is death on the other side? You will just have to hold us up, Holy Jesus, for our spirits shrivel when we face the specter of pain and uncertainty.
Bless us, Lord, with your courage.
Your journey, Most Humble One, is surely meant to be our journey, despite our reticence. The Father doesn’t desire our company on Sundays only; he wants all that we are at all times. In coming days we will again be mystified by sacred scriptures – those passages that make us ask ourselves if we are true disciples, or if we are merely followers who hang out at a distance, waiting for another celebration. Our wills are weak and our knees wobbly; yet as you have never failed to accompany us in our trials, may we join that faithful band walking with you on your course most grievous.
Bless us, Lord, with your strength.
We admit our failings freely, Gracious One, especially . . . . . . . . . . Wash us clean, we pray, as you so tenderly washed the feet of your disciples that long ago night. And show us how to draw close and wash the feet of those who suffer everywhere – the confused and the grieving; the imprisoned and their captors; the infirm and their caregivers; all who are caught up in humanitarian crises in Yemen, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, S. Sudan and Somalia. You know too well that human pain can cut too deep for words, so pierce us with a burning warmth that we might reach out to all hurting souls and even to our enemies.
Bless us, Lord, with your love.
And receive, we pray, both the needs and the praises offered by your people in our own church community:
- Gratitude: an infant granddaughter needs no surgery
- Prayers appreciated: friend in hospice care died peacefully with no pain
- Grateful for prayers: member’s foot surgery went smoothly
- One offers praise for healing of family relationships
- Thanksgiving for a mother’s 96th birthday
- Prayers appreciated: pain from kidney stone has ceased
- Family joyfully look forward to a son’s wedding
- Thanksgiving for one recovered from Covid
- Gratitude for our music leaders & all devoted choir members
- Member recovering in NHC, for improvement in Parkinson’s
- Solace for 3 nieces grieving their mother’s untimely death
- Prayers please for a mother in rehab
- Beloved mother with a heart condition, for correct diagnosis
- Grandmother in comfort care and strength for caregiving daughter
- Please pray for a home to sell in short order
- For Russia to end violence and upholding the poor people of Ukraine
- Continued strength for a mother in cancer treatment
- Please pray for an employment interview on April 13
- Improved health for a brother with congestive heart failure
- Calming anxiety of a member overwhelmed with responsibilities
- Direction for an aunt who lost her home & business in the recent fires
- Prayers for anxious couple awaiting news of pregnancy
- Comfort for cherished husband/father & his grieving family
- Young wife with cancer, that recent treatment may help her recover
- An uncle in hospice care – prayers for family
- Husband’s continued healing from pneumonia
- An ill mother-in-law and concerned family, for recovery
- Safe travel to and from NYC
- 5 friends who are dealing with grave challenges
- Healing for a nephew in radiation treatment
- For employment doors to open for a young professional
- Relative in treatment for ovarian cancer
- For our 6th graders – discerning & preparing for confirmation
- Longtime friend with advanced cancer & wisdom for physicians
Yes, Good Lord, we are too much absorbed in the trivial, half-blind to the crucial callings of our neighbors and our world. Please don’t stop nudging us, don’t cease rousing us when we become too comfortable. And as we revisit the shock and sorrow of your own suffering on the cross, may we recommit ourselves to the solemn promises we have made in your name.
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.
