Pray

It’s Sunday. In our home, we participated in on-line church services. It was reassuring, uplifting, real. If you would like to hear the music and message from our church, you can FIND IT HERE. I want to use my Sunday posts for prayer. Thank you for joining me.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.

Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three persons, Blessed Trinity.

We come to you today after a challenging week. Our lives have been upended by something we cannot see. We have been told to live in near seclusion. Some of us have lost jobs or are in fear of losing employment. Others have been sick. Some are grieving. We are concerned for our future and worried about people we love. We need you, God.

We confess that we have not sought you at every turn of our lives. Sometimes we get caught up in fear. We don’t like feeling like we can’t control our lives and are reluctant to give up our habits and activities. Each of us knows that we have thought, said or done something that is offensive to You. Please forgive us.

We give you thanks, for you have seen us through each day. Even when we take no notice, you are blessing us in many ways, showing us your loving kindness as we take uncertain steps.

God, have promised that if we draw near to You, You will draw near to us. You have given your son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice to pay for our sins, so we are able to draw near to you by faith in Him. As we humble ourselves and come, you send the Holy Spirit to abide with us. God in three persons, Blessed Trinity!

You have invited us to cast all of our cares and anxiety upon you, the One who cares for us and will replace our fear with your peace.  Help us to do that, Holy Spirit.

Our hearts and minds turn to the people around us. We thank you for all who are continuing to work diligently to inform us, protect us, feed us, encourage us, and provide medical care when we need it. We ask you to protect each of them from all disease and give them wisdom and energy to do their work.

We think of so many who are trying to work from home or are responsible for continuing to do school work at home. Please grant patience, focus, and success to them.

We pray for everyone who is living in a nursing home or is hospitalized, unable to have visitors, struggling to understand this confusing situation. Please give them healing and peace.

We ask You, Almighty God, to shorten these days, stop the Covid19 virus from spreading, and help us to keep from panicking or despairing. Remind us of who you are. Open our eyes to what you doing. Give us courage to put aside our fear and love each other well.

In the beautiful, wonderful, powerful name of Jesus, we pray. Amen