Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of December 22, 2021
Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand;
ponder nothing earthly-minded, for with blessing in his hand
Christ our God, to earth descending, comes our homage to demand.
(from Liturgy of St. James)
O God of Wonder, we scurry about, scouring the aisles for gifts that please family and friends, too often overlooking the wondrous basket of blessings you have already set before us. You have given us life itself, the opportunity to live, learn and share in the marvels of your creation. You offer us our beloved church community which nourishes us with thoughtfulness and challenges us to become more faithful disciples. When we draw back, fearing we aren’t good enough, you nudge us to use our talents for your worthy purposes. When our pride swells, you turn our hearts again to the life of the One Most Humble. When we grumble about our setbacks, you point us toward the healing way. We make mistake after mistake, yet you hand us a cup overflowing with grace. How dare we desire anything more this season, Beloved Benefactor, for you are the essence of all things holy and good!
Silent One, may our souls join with the shepherds who wait patiently in the fields as night closes in. How deftly does the extraordinary cloak itself in typical garb; and if we do not quiet ourselves, we may miss both the messenger and the message. Perhaps we will be stunned by wonders spanning the sky. Maybe we will hear angelic voices singing of newborn love. Or maybe the sign will be only a whisper of assurance that penetrates the heart. In whatever manner it comes, may we be prepared to follow until we discover for ourselves the wonder we know to be true. It is this Truth in which all our hopes and dreams are met.
As you were delivered on that sacred eve, so you came to deliver us from ourselves and from whatever threatens to separate us from your glory. We recognize the dark parts of our world engulfed in apathy, bitterness, pain, and loss. O Christ, open our souls to receive the good news of your very self, we pray, and bring us into the wonder of your living presence. And knowing the light of your mercy, we lift up those who are in need this night, particularly . . . . . . . . . . ; and we also pray you would touch each of these friends at Church Street who look to you as their Savior:
- Thankful for husband’s improvement (Parkinson’s diagnosis)
- Family offers thanks for a marriage blessing on Saturday
- Family celebrates first family gathering in three years
- Grateful: A father’s health is improving
- Thanksgiving for freedom for kidnapped missionaries in Haiti
- Member thankful for church support during his bereavement
- Member appreciates friends who are helping her in days of need
- Thanksgiving: mother in rehab, progressing steadily
- Gratitude: Uplifting worship and music ministry
- Praises that a brother’s prostate surgery was successful
- One celebrates a good grade in a difficult graduate course
- Pray for friend whose tongue was removed yesterday- cancer
- Prayers for member recovering in ICU
- Prayers for mother enduring chemo for lung cancer
- Healing for daughter, ill with colitis
- Support for a brother with Parkinson’s
- Grace for member valiantly enduring cancer treatments
- Upholding all church families in mourning during the holidays
- Mother with lung cancer, that chemo may be tolerated
- Young couple in Nashville hospitalized with serious illnesses
- God’s grace to surround a mother with cancer, for renewed hope
- Healing for cherished husband suffering from Parkinson’s and stress
- Faithful husband struggling with memory loss
- Member grieving the untimely death of her cousin
- Longtime friend in Atlanta, ill with Covid and alone on Christmas
- Grace to uphold dear friend soon to be placed in hospice care
- Strength for daughter, extreme complications from Covid
- For doors of employment to open for a talented professional man
- Beloved husband undergoing chemotherapy
- Wisdom and strength: Young mother enduring a painful separation
- Healing two families: Parents estranged from children
You have come anew to every time and every age, Holy One, so we abide in confidence of your arrival to renew your covenant with us. “Do not fear, only believe,” said the Teacher, reassuring a troubled father. May those words echo within us this winter of uncertainty, as we plant our trust once again in the Son of the Most High, who taught us to pray in this way:
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.
