BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Prayers for the Church Street Family
February 15, 2021
Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade
I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.
Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed,
for his compassion never fails.
(Lamentations 3:19-21)
Why is it, Lord, that you sometimes seem so distant? We know in our hearts that you want the best for us, and there are many days when your love comes cascading down in torrents. But then, there are times of prayer when you are nowhere to be found and we encounter only emptiness. Maybe we’ve grown accustomed to thinking Jesus is our very own. Perhaps we forget that we don’t have you in our hip pockets, and when our fears come calling you may just be attending to another in more desperate straits than ours. Help us hold on even when the wells of our souls threaten to run dry. You will not leave us comfortless for long. There is that undercurrent of holy grace moving beneath the foundation of the universe that carries us home, even when we scarcely feel its progression.
Breath of Mystery, what do we do when we feel our pleas have not been heard, when our expectations are not met, when aloneness seems our fate? We may remember that Jesus also experienced hollow interludes – times he was misunderstood, when others deserted him, when he fell on his knees in the agony in the garden. He managed his fears by never giving up, by continuing to pray and by moving ahead. Maybe we can just enter the emptiness and learn from it. Then through our service to others, we will release our assumptions concerning the availability of the Holy, and will even discover a new depth of trust. We pray, Lord, it may be so.
Spirit of Gentleness, with all our flaws and failings, even in our doubts, you cherish us and count upon us to act as your very own disciples. Only One is perfect, else we would have no need of a Loving Savior. Therefore, let us recommit ourselves to the work as we have promised, through our prayers, presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness in Christ’s name.
You come to us on your own terms, O Lord, so in your own way and in your own time, we ask you to attend to these thanksgivings and petitions offered by your disciples at Church Street:
- Thanksgiving: A mother recovering from stroke
- Gratitude to God: A relationship is being renewed
- Six thankful for church assistance in obtaining virus vaccinations
- Gratitude: Daughter recovering well from surgery
- Thankful that a family member now has health insurance
- Gratitude for a wonderful gift from a friend
- Prayers for three families dealing with addictions
- Courage for one diagnosed with ALS
- Grandson healing from lymphoma
- God’s guidance for couple who may have to move
- Courage for one enduring radiation treatments
- Three seeking help in managing depression
- Frail friend with pneumonia
- Healing mercies: Aunt recovering from mastectomy
- For one’s white blood count to increase
- Cherished mother recovering at home
- Parent asks for prayers for her two young sons, and for God’s help in stabilizing and managing the family
- Continued prayers for healing of heart ailment
Move among us and through us this night, Unwavering One, as we take our rest in you. Gather the longings and prayers of our hearts, and those in the hearts of all your people, that our dreams will be of you and your compassion that never fails.
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.
