Running Out

We are now over a month into the global pandemic's impact on our daily routines and lively-hoods. The first week was a surreal mixture of fear and disbelief, the second week a surge of energy filled us as we braced for the changes, the third week the monotony set in, and now we are beginning to feel the drain of resources—emotionally, mentally, relationally, financially. It is for those who feel the reserves depleting that we pray this prayer adapted from Earnest Campbell:

We embrace in our prayers today those who live with a sense of running out of what they need:

those who are running out of time, their dreams still unfulfilled;

those who are running out of patience, wondering how long they can endure;

those who are running out of health, who feel their powers waning day by day;

those who are running out of money, who’ve lost income and unsure when it will return;

those who are running out of love, finding it easier all the time to accuse and criticize and isolate and hate.

Our Father, who alone can keep us from runn, whose power is unbounded: where our and our faith family’s and our neighbors’ reserves are low, fill us again, for we wish to endure all the way to the very end.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

A Heart Like Jesus

This week, as we reflect on and celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, let us join in praying for one another that we might have the same heart that compelled Jesus to do what he did for our sake, and that having a heart like Jesus we to might do what is necessary for one another and our neighbors.

This is an adapted prayer from John Ballie.

O Heavenly Father, give us a heart like the heart of Jesus, a heart more ready to serve than be served, a heart moved by compassion towards the weak and oppressed, a heart set upon the coming of Your kingdom in the world of women and men.

We pray now, O God, for all the different kinds of people to whom Jesus gave special concern and care when he was on earth:

For those needing food or drink or clothes;

For the sick and all those who are wasted by disease of the body, of the mind, and of the soul;

For the blind, physically and spiritually ;

For the disabled;

For people suffering from life-shattering diseases;

For prisoners in cells made of bars, cells made of fear, and cells made of pride;

For the homeless and all the lost sheep of our society;

For all victims of sexual exploitation and abuse;

For the lonely;

For all the single parents;

For the worried and the anxious;

For those who are living faithful lives in obscurity;

For those who are fighting bravely for unpopular causes;

For all those who are working diligently for you throughout your world.

Grant, O Father, that your loving kindness in giving us so much may not make us less sensitive to the needs of others less fortunate, but rather move us to lay their burdens on our hearts. If we should experience adversity, help us not to brood on our sorrows, as if we were alone in the world of suffering; but rather help us to take time serve, with compassion, those who need our help. Let the power of our Lord Jesus Christ be strong within us and his peace invade our spirit.

Amen.

First Impulse

We are entering another week of distancing that requires us to work from home, teach from home, and wait under the pressures of what is and might be. Patience runs short, and anxieties simmer in these "Groundhog Days." So, let us pray with and for one another that our first impulse be to start and continue our days aware of the presence of our eternal Father and all he brings with him.

The following is adapted from a prayer by John Ballie.

Eternal Father of our souls, let our first thought today be of you, let our first impulse be to worship you, let our first word be your Name, let our first action be to kneel before you in prayer.

For your perfect wisdom and perfect goodness;

For the love you have for all people;

For the love you have for us;

For the great and mysterious opportunity of our lives;

For your Spirit, who dwells in our hearts;

For the gift of a spirit of power, love, and sound mind;

We praise and worship you, O Lord.

Do not let us think that our worship is ended when this prayer is finished, and then spend the rest of our day forgetting you. Rather, from these quiet moments, let light and joy and power pour out and remain with us through every hour of these days.

May the light and joy and power:

Keep our thoughts pure;

Keep us gentle and truthful in all we say;

Keep us faithful and diligent in our work;

Keep us humble in our opinions of ourselves;

Keep us honorable and generous in our dealings with others;

Keep us kind in our interactions with those in our homes;

Keep us mindful of our eternal destiny as your children.

O, Father, you have been the refuge of your people through many generations; be our refuge in every moment and every need that we face during these days. Be our guide through all uncertainty and darkness. Be our guard against all that threatens our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Be our strength in times of testing. Cheer our hearts with your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Yearning & Praise

This week, we will pray two prayers together. These prayers are meant to be prayed in sequence, one with the other for one another. My encouragement is to pause only momentarily between the two, taking a deep breath and remembering that what you are speaking to God on behalf of others, is being spoken for you also.

These prayers are adapted from Ernest T. Campbell.

PRAYER I

With yearnings that we cannot fully identify, much less describe; with fears too personal to voice; harboring hostilities of which e are ashamed; and weighted with a sense of guilt for having done so little with so much; we make bold now to pray for ourselves:

teach us what it means to live in you,

to rest in you,

to hope in you;

let your presence fill those homes where death has come;

let your wisdom fall like a gentle rain on the parched souls of

all who are confused;

let your warming, healing light kindle trust in those who are

sick or could be sick or in any way afflicted;

let your joy overcome the dolefulness of those who have

forgotten how to laugh.

Shape your grace around our inmost needs, O God. Do not give us over to ourselves. Strive with us yet a little longer, for we love you and desire to serve you fully.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

PRAYER II

We thank you, God, that praise is therapy, and gratitude the medicine of the soul. At least for the time it takes to pray, we set our minds on your mercies and give up feeling sorry for ourselves. You have blessed us with the gift of life:

surrounded us with friends;

trusted us with responsibility;

endowed us with conscience;

provided us with all things needful;

and set your love upon us.

Here within this quiet moment, we remember those whose sacrifices have and are securing the good that we enjoy:

parents, teachers, and health care workers

artists, inventors, and those keeping essential functions going

scholars, city workers, and prophets old and new.

Chiefly we remember Jesus Christ:

his selfless life;

his voluntary death;

his victorious resurrection;

and his continuing power to save.

Our praises rise to you, form whom our blessings come.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer For You

The prayer this week was written for you by Chaz. As you read this prayer, do so with the knowledge that not only he but also others in your faith family are praying this prayer for you, even as you will be praying it for them.

Father, we pray that you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear Your work in the coming days and weeks:

all that you are healing, 

all that you are redeeming, 

all that you are restoring.

During these most difficult times as families are made to stay at home, as schools and workplaces close, as many common luxuries are taken away, as so much of what we take for granted as a part of ordinary life is removed, we pray that you, Lord, would redeem these times. We pray for that:

marriages would be restored, 

relationships reconciled 

emotional, psychological, and spiritual wounds would be healed. 

For all who worry about finances over the coming weeks and months we pray that you would grow our faith and strengthen our trust in you. That you would provide in ways we are not expecting, and through the relationships you have gifted us.

Father, we do not overlook or minimize the real and present suffering that potentially awaits so many of us—in our homes, workplaces, finances, in our families and in our city—but rather, we know and we trust that you are in our sufferings with us, alongside us, and that you are not blind or indifferent to the pain, to the worry, anxiety, or stress that we feel. We know that you are in the midst of these difficulties and we simply ask that as you take what is evil and use it for good, that as you take what for many feels hopeless and bring hope, that you grant us eyes to see and ears to hear Your saving work.

May you get all the glory, praise, and honor,

Amen.

PRAYING TO BE TOGETHER

We are all praying that the thing that keeps us from being together would come to an end, and that is a worthwhile prayer! And while we pray to be together again without the prevailing fears of this moment, we can actually pray as a means of being together—in spirit if not in body.

There are two “types” of prayers we can pray to share life, even if at a bit of a distance. The first is praying specifically, by name, for one another. It starts with willingly sharing our needs, issues, and praises with one another. This allows us to know the particulars, and if you know the particular things to pray for those in your Gospel Community, then pray those. If you don’t have particulars, or particulars for everyone, pray your sisters and brothers into a scripture. For example, one my favorites to pray people into is Ephesians 3:14-19:

Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, according to the riches of your glory, grant ___ to be strengthened with power through your Spirit in ___'s inner being, so that Christ may dwell in ___’s heart through faith—that ___, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that ___ may be filled with the fullness of you God. Amen.

The second “type” of prayer that is a means for being together, is sharing a “set prayer" together. When you pray these words, reflect on the fact that you are praying the same words, perhaps even at the same time, as your faith family. You are praying with one voice, in one Spirit, to our one Father in heaven.

A set prayer can be a passage of scripture or an “edited” or “crafted” prayer like the set prayer we are praying together this week. This prayer is adapted for our time and place from a collection of prayers written by Ernest T. Campbell for his faith family in New York City in the 1960’s-70’s.

We pray today for all who work to bring your healing to the sick and to the anxious:

doctors, nurses, and technicians;

hospital administrators and health officials;

orderlies and researchers;

dependable volunteers;

and thoughtful neighbors.

Our Father who sent your Son among us as the great physician,

grant that the Spirit of Jesus may govern and guard

all who touch our sick in any way.

May the strength of our nation be found in the generous provisions

made for those suffering—physically and mentally.

Let those of us who are a strong bear the infirmities of the week,

and thus fulfill the law of Christ.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us, in our prayers, be together.