Prayer … Sep 14, 2008
Howling wind, … pounding rain … rising water, dank and dirty … homes boarded up; stores close; people flee - some can’t … some won’t … and who can count the cost … Ike rages …
So much damage … lives changed … some return when the sun shines again; some stay where they are; to make a new home for themselves … as best they can … remembering and wondering …
Campaign time in the United States … promises to run mud-free … and then mud slinging anyway … how to tell the truth … to win an election … the power of lobbyists … right and left; conservative and liberal … the war in Iraq; the war on terror … what’s right? What’s needed? How shall I vote?
And what about marriage … between a man and woman, only?
What’s love?
Does love come in different forms?
Everyone wants to love and be loved … to be safe with someone … so who’s to say, LORD?
We have a Bible, O LORD … your word, some say … but how to read it, understand it, interpret it – more than one preacher is quick to say: my way or the highway … more questions than answers sometimes … so who’s to say?
We are your people, O God … we’re here to worship, to learn, to grow, to become good salt and a clear light … to ask the questions that make for life … to know how to asses the time and think through the issues …
And to know ourselves, too, a little more today than yesterday … to get our act together; but it’s hard, LORD … life is rarely what we think it ought to be; and many of us have had to leave dreams behind … say goodbye to cherished hopes … take a different course … find our way in a strange land …
Was it a miscalculation?
An error?
Someone not paying attention?
How could it happen?
Trains collide … chaos and shock … debris and death …
LORD, have mercy, we say.
Grace to ease the sorrow.
Some means to heal the pain.
But who can bring a life back?
Who can stitch a family back together again?
We’ll do our best … but sometimes more is needed.
Can you help LORD?
Will you help?
What will it look like if you do?
The tenderness of a nurse?
The strength of a family?
The power of faith and hope in the face of adversity?
The human spirit bearing its burdens with dignity?
The quiet witness of your Love in the dark and trembling corners of the soul?
Covenant on the Corner, O God … a sixty-year story … Sunday School and Preschool … potlucks and preachers … so many folks who’ve passed through these doors … to sing the songs of Zion … to hear the Word proclaimed … to make a difference in their world … to bear witness to Jesus … to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
We’re a good congregation, LORD.
We’ve been a blessing to many.
We haven’t always gotten it right.
We’ve lost our way a time or two.
Sometimes we’ve been so interested in ourselves, we’ve lost sight of the gospel.
But we’re trying to figure it out, LORD.
We’re paying attention.
We’re praying …
And we’re trying to love one another as you have loved us.
It’s good to be here, LORD.
To be a part of this story, unfolding, emerging, transitioning …
Something new … something old … something borrowed …
Who knows, LORD … we’re eager and ready for ministry …
For the world, O LORD.
That’s why we’re here!
In the name of Jesus who taught us to pray, saying, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name …”
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