Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of June 1, 2022
Rev. Tim Best
Gracious God, we give you thanks and praise for the beauty of creation in this season of the year. We marvel at flowers that show your beautiful creativity; we find comfort in watching vegetables grow that can nourish and satisfy. Our mornings are greeted by the sounds of birds and other creatures that you fashioned; our evenings are illuminated by the beauty of the stars. We are filled with awe at your handiwork.
Even as we recognize the beauty of all that you have made, we recognize the ways that it is twisted by sin and wickedness. We hoard and destroy; we dominate the things you made for us to delight in; where you offer beauty, we seek power. Even as we hear the songs of birds and see the beauty of flowers our hearts are troubled and heavy.
We pray for a swift and just end to the war in Ukraine. We pray for those families; Ukrainian and Russian, that have lost loved ones. We pray for all of those who live with war in other regions and places. Transform our hearts to be dedicated to the work of peace; in our communities and around the world. May we speak and act out the peace of Christ in all that we do and say.
We pray for the victims of violence within our own nation and community. Help us and our leaders to move beyond talking points and to work toward solutions that prevent violence, protect the vulnerable, and build trust within communities. We pray especially for Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas. When we run out of words for this violence let our voiceless cries be heard by you.
We pray for those who suffer, are lonely, or are in any kind of trouble. Grant your peace and strength to those who are overwhelmed by the challenges of life.
And lift up, we pray each of these, who have brought their private prayers to your throne of grace in recent days:
- Thanksgiving for the remarkable ways in which our Youth Choir is representing our congregation during their tour in Chicago
- Family offers thanks for a safe vacation in Italy
- Unceasing gratitude for all who sacrificed their lives on behalf of our nation
- Young person expresses thanks for his scholarship
- Church family offers gratitude for support during a bereavement
- A relative celebrates her final chemo treatment on June 6
- Gratitude: New medicines and PT are helping a Parkinson’s sufferer
- Brother offers thanks that his sister is released from jail
- Safe travels home for leaders of Holy Land Pilgrimage
- Prayers for family funeral June 2 in our church
- Decreased pain and continued healing as member recovers from surgery
- A dear friend with cancer; husband with bouts of depression
- Guidance for suffering Ukrainians displaced by the war
- Open doors for a new position: Adult son in unhealthy work situation
- Prayers for a grandmother’s peaceful passing and her daughter
- Complete healing following a friend’s heart procedure June 1
- For reliable caregivers to be found to help an infirm husband
- Pray for all wounded by sexual misconduct within the Southern Baptist
Pour out your Spirit upon your church that we would be united in your mission to redeem and reconcile all creation to your very self. We ask all these things as we offer the prayer your son, our Lord, Jesus Christ has taught us….
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.
