One of the interruptions that COVID-19 brought to my weekly routine involved prayer. During the fifteen years we’ve lived in this community, I’ve attended a Tuesday morning women’s Bible study at our church. It was in stepping into that roomful of joyful Christian ladies that I began to form the relationships that mean so much today.
For a number of years now, I have supported the group by gathering prayer requests from the women, standing in front of them, and praying aloud to our gracious God. It is not something I could have imagined myself doing fifteen years ago, and there are Tuesday mornings when I certainly don’t feel capable of serving in this way. It is, however, a privilege to lead others to the Lord in prayer and trust the Holy Spirit with the words of my mouth.
As I sit down today to write another Sunday prayer, I begin with seeking the Spirit’s help in knowing how we should pray, remembering that God already knows our needs and the desires of our hearts and that with Him all things are possible.
Sweet hour of prayer
Sweet hour of prayer
That calls me from a world of care
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known
In seasons of distress and grief
My soul has often found relief
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare
By Thy return, sweet hour of prayer.
Gracious God, we take this time to turn our eyes away from the troubles of the day and lift them up to you. We acknowledge that you are on your throne, with all things in your wise command. While life feels upended and out of control, we have only to trust in you and walk in your ways, knowing that you are strong and you are loving.
Father, we confess that while we talk about loving our neighbor as ourself, we struggle to do it, especially when we disagree with them. As each of us maneuvers through this pandemic, forms our own opinions, faces our own challenges, wonders about the future, we sometimes feel upset by words and actions of others. We forget that your Son, the perfect one, walked a difficult and demanding road, was ridiculed, disbelieved, rejected, mocked and killed. But he loved. And he forgave. And he lives and reigns.
Help us to seek you each day and thank you each night, be quick to listen and slow to speak, resist anger in favor of patience, keep our eyes on Jesus and see others through his eyes. Teach us how to bless others with respect and compassion, to shine some light wherever we are, to live today well.
We continue to thank you for and pray for those who are in authority, asking you to lead them as they lead, and protect them as they protect. We pray for hospital workers, nursing home workers, postal workers, and so many others who serve in our communities. And we lift up all those who are sick, asking for your presence and healing. We pray that you will bring this pandemic to an end.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
