Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of January 19, 2022
Rev. Tim Best
Gracious Lord, this week we remember the life and legacy of your servant, Rev. Dr. King, praying that your Spirit would continue to teach us the ways of peace. When we encounter hate; grant us the gift of love. Help us to recognize injustice in our world, our communities, and within our own hearts. Indeed, “even when pressed by the demands of inner truth” we struggle to oppose the status quo. Our own spirits may falter, and so we pray that you would give us wisdom and courage.
God of many gifts, make us one in your Spirit.
Lord of power and might, we recognize that power is a gift. With power we can create, make, imagine, and shape. We acknowledge that power is a gift that has been so often twisted, corrupted, and misused. We pray today for those who hold power and those who feel powerless. We give thanks for those leaders and servants who helped to safely recover all who were held hostage in Colleyville, Texas. Make us mindful of the power we hold in our communities and in the lives of others. As Jesus used his power to reconcile, teach, and to love, speak to those who hold authority in our world that they might use their power in the pattern of Christ.
God of many gifts, make us one in your Spirit.
Lord, you gifted your apostles with gifts to heal and make whole. As our world finds itself again in the grip of another pandemic wave, we pray for all those who are sick. We pray for not just those with Covid, but those with cancer, those chronic illness, and those that have mental illness. Grant us compassion to care for those in need. Give us the resolve to tend the suffering of others. Give us confidence in the power of Jesus, the great physician, and in his victory of all death and sickness.
God of many gifts, make us one in your Spirit.
God of Hope and Healing, you have called our church family together in your Spirit, that we might walk together in all seasons of life; therefore, receive these expressions of both joy and suffering from your people of Church Street. May our prayers strengthen our bond with one another and with our Lord:
- Thanksgiving for prayers: Ankle injury improving
- Grateful for prayers: Niece’s husband died peacefully
- Family celebrating safe birth of new grandchild
- Thanksgiving for faithfulness and witness of Youth in our church
- Family rejoices: Pregnant mom is now Covid-free
- Grateful for miracle: Premature infant in ICU growing steadily
- Daughter gives thanks for a loving father who died peacefully this week
- Prayers appreciated: Recent cancer scans confirm healing
- Member with ALS expresses deep gratitude for church support
- Wisdom and guidance for one unsure of the future
- Safe travel for family traveling M.D. Anderson for follow-up tests
- Wife asks for direction as her husband’s memory loss increases
- Pray that a donor may be procured for a much-needed transplant
- God’s grace and comfort for family, sudden death of young father
- Safety and guidance for lonely, infirm widower
- Prayers for two friends in cancer treatment
- Peace and support for family grieving brother’s death on Friday
- God’s presence to surround daughter with Covid, great suffering
- Prayers for a husband with cancer
- Sons who struggle with a father’s final illness
- Upholding wife and mother struggling with cancer, for her family
- God’s grace to surround all caregivers in their ministry
- Two members with severe vision impairment and neuropathy
- God’s work in the lives of two youngsters whose mother died recently
- Peace and healing for husband with Parkinson’s and loss of vision; strength and wisdom for his devoted wife
- Friend now in labor delivering baby two months early
Lord Jesus, we praise you for the gift of your blessed church. We confess that often the church has fallen short and not lived up to the calling you have given. Yet, we know that through your faithfulness we see your love for all the world. Grant us, the people called to from many peoples and places, to be unified in our mission and ministry as the church. Empower your people that the church may be a gift for the world and a sign of your love and justice even in the midst of darkness.
God of many gifts, make us one in your Spirit.
Join our prayers with those of the saints and all the company of heaven as we offer that prayer taught to us by Jesus our Lord, the giver of every good gift, praying:
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.
