Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of July 6, 2022
Rev. Jan Buxton Wade*
This is my song, oh God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.
But other hearts and other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and pure mine.
O God of All Nations, the poet speaks truth as we acknowledge our land comes to us as a gift of grace, entrusted to our care. Indeed, as we celebrate our independence this week, we lift our hands and hearts in thanksgiving to you, for our country and for its people, for its vastness, its rich diversity and resources to nourish and sustain. May we join in this song of homage, knowing that our freedoms were forged by others willing to lay both livelihoods and lives on the line for liberty’s sake. Yes, we cherish our nation, but we remember that other hearts burn just as deeply with love of their homelands. Your dream is for all peoples to know the freedoms we have inherited. So guard us, we pray, lest we cross the threshold to worship of America. May we heed the words of the prophet: O God, others have ruled over us, but we worship you alone! (Is. 26:13).
My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine,
but other lands have sunlight too and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
Oh, hear my song, oh God of all the nations,
a song of peace for their land and for mine.
O God of All Nations, we confess that despite all you have done for our states united, our history haunts us, for it brims with the sordid parts of our past. No longer dare we brush aside our longtime exploitation of persons of color, our indifference to the plight of the weak and poor, our love affair with money, our apathy in correcting inequalities, our tolerance for violence, and our hunger for world supremacy at all costs. Our Savior spoke of humility, kindness, and love for the stranger. His was a peaceful walk, but we have soiled Jesus’ path with our own selfishness. Lord have mercy upon us once again. Point us toward that new, untainted thoroughfare, and we will move forward with you as our resilient guide.
O God of All Nations, as we depend upon you as our ultimate sustenance, may our very breaths this day become prayers of healing and peace for those across the globe who are hungry or thirsting, threatened, nearing death, and in need of your holy counsel. We place our own prayers beside our brothers and sisters in every land who lift their private yearnings toward the gates of heaven:
- Thankful for prayers: Niece’s July 1 cancer surgery went well
- Gratitude: Family arrived safely home from Europe on Monday
- Mother with ovarian cancer feels our prayer support
- Thankful a Thursday surgery was successful
- Member grateful for church support in dealing w a family death
- Family gives thanks for a daughter’s engagement
- Five families celebrate safe July 4 celebrations with family
- Mother in heart failure now improved, prayers appreciated
- Gratitude for Stephen Ministers supporting those who struggle
- Resilience for a son searching for a healthy work environment
- Healing of a young mother suffering with shingles
- Prayers for unborn nephew, that he may receive the best of care
- Prayers for two adult sons grieving death of fathers
- Member in deep depression, for healing and reassurance
- Safety & success: Medical team helping women & children in Namibia
- Safe delivery of baby boy, mother with complications
- Safety & resilience for friend boldly speaking out for children’s safety in classrooms & for protection of voter rights
- Strength, faith, & hope for aunt entering new phase of cancer treatment
- God’s presence with Highland Park shooting victims & their families
- All working to bring about the end of the Ukrainian crisis
- Patience, continued humor, healing for an uncle recovering from a stroke
- Hope & healing for a mother with advanced eye disease
- Solace for daughter grieving the recent death of her mother
- Continued courage for mother entering chemotherapy
As those who follow the Risen Christ, we believe your loving hand will ever be upon us. And we shall not forget that our true citizenship is in the kingdom of heaven, our eternal home.
This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth’s kingdoms:
Thy kingdom come; on earth thy will be done.
Let Christ be lifted up till all shall serve him,
and hearts united learn to live as one.
O hear my prayer, thou God of all the nations;
Myself I give thee, let thy will be done.
Amen.
*Verses excerpted from hymn, O God of Every Nation, authored by William W. Reid, Jr. and Georgia Harkness, UMC Hymnal, Hope Publishing, 1958, 1989.
