Good morning…
“I am just so grateful for our church, it makes me cry,” she wiped her wet cheeks as she was leaving the prayer vigil held at Northside Church. “I can say I am going to pray for our nation, but at home I get distracted, time slips away, and by the end of the day, I notice I haven’t really prayed. It helps me to come into the sanctuary, physically, to talk to God alone in this sacred space.”
I know exactly what she means. The sanctuary provides sanctuary, which by definition means a place of rest, refuge, renewal, especially for someone being chased or hunted. Sometimes we feel chased and hunted by pressures swirling in and around us. Spoken and unspoken expectations piled high. Differences of opinion all around. Threat of violence. All forms of grief. Our struggle to be seen and known, to be heard and loved just as we are. The sanctuary of church is designed to be a “thin space” where we feel safe, protected, wrapped close to the heartbeat of our loving LORD.
I am so grateful I volunteered an hour of my day to greet people who came to pray in the sanctuary yesterday. A single sheet of prayers was available when people arrived, a quiet guide to prime the pump of our innermost being. My heart was tenderized by the words gathered on one page. Now I turn to you and pass along this rich resource as we each continue to set aside time to share our deepest thoughts with God, personally and persistently.
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Inauguration Day Prayers
Welcome. We believe that God is with us, Emmanuel. We believe God is active and at work in the world, in our Churches, and in our individual lives. We come to praise God, lament our brokenness, repent of our sins, seek healing, and be transformed so we may continue the work of bringing forth the Kingdom of God—a place of justice and peace. We pray for our local community, state, and nation. We give thanks for God’s gift of sanctuary and now we listen for God’s voice in the silence and we join our voices with the saints throughout the ages.
God of all the ages, in your sight nations rise and fall, and pass through times of peril. Now when our land is troubled, be near to judge and save. May leaders be led by your wisdom; may they search your will and see it clearly. If we have turned from your way, reverse our ways and help us to repent. Give us your light and your truth, let them guide us; through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of this world, and our Savior. Amen.
– A Prayer in a Time of National Crisis, United Methodist Book of Worship, #517.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us. We need Your strength. The wells of our own resources run dry. We need Your strength to fill up our diminished reserves—silent strength that flows into us with artesian resourcefulness, quietly filling us with renewed power. You alone can provide strength to think clearly and to decide decisively. Bless [our Leaders] today as they trust You as Lord in the inner tribunal of their own hearts. You are sovereign of this land, but You are also sovereign of the inner person of each [leader]. May these hours of discussion and debate bring exposure of truth and resolution. O God of righteousness and grace, guide [our nation] at this decisive hour. You are our Lord and Savior. Amen.
– Lloyd John Ogilvie, former Senate Chaplain from May 1, 2002
Father God, we come to you because the people of this nation and everything in it belong to you. We are not here by accident. You are the one who set us in this nation at this particular time for the glory of your name. But Father, people in this country are turning against each other. We no longer live like brothers and sisters. Brother has turned against brother and child against parent. But your word says that if we humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways you will heal our land. Lord, heal our hearts, heal our land. Remove bitterness and resentment from our hearts and help us to live as brothers and sisters. In Jesus’ name, Amen. – CounnectUsFund.org
We invoke the prayers of our grandmothers, who taught us to pray, ‘God make me a blessing.’ Let their spirit guide us as we claim the spirit of old. “There’s something within me that holds the reins. There’s something within me that banishes pain. There’s something within me I cannot explain. But all I know America, there is something within. There is something within.” In Jesus’ name and the name of all who are holy and right we pray. Amen.
– Myrlie Evers-Williams
Breath Prayer: A breath prayer is a brief petition that arises from our deepest needs, clarifying who we are and helping us understand our relationship with God. Sit for a moment in silence and invite the presence of God to be with you. Breathe regular, slow, deep breaths. Choose one of the phrases from Scripture to repeat, pausing after each phrase for several breaths, then repeating the scripture again. Pray for our church in this time.
Speak, Lord for your servants are listening (1 Samuel 3:9).
Our help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth (Psalm 121:2).
Come, Lord Jesus (Revelation 22:20).
God, we thank You for the inspiration of Jesus. Grant that we will love You with all our hearts, souls, minds, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves, even our enemy neighbors. And we ask You, God, in these days of emotional tension, when the problems of the world are gigantic in extent and chaotic in detail, to be with us in our going out and our coming in, in our rising up and in our lying down, in our moments of joy and in our moments of sorrow, until the day when there shall be no sunset and no dawn. Amen.
– Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
And then all of what has divided us will merge.
And then compassion will be wedded to power.
And then softness will come to a world that is often harsh and unkind.
And then both women and men will be gentle.
And then both men and women will be strong.
And then no other person will be subject to another’s will.
And then all will be rich and varied.
And then all will share equally in the earth’s abundance.
And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old. And then all will nourish the young. And then all will cherish life’s creatures.
And then all will live in harmony with each other and the earth. And then everywhere will be called Eden once again.
Amen.
– Judy Chicago, A Poem Praying for Us Then and Them Right Now
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May our ongoing prayers be a mouthwatering aroma breathed in by the Giver of life. For we are like a sweet-smelling incense offered by Christ to God, which spreads among those who are being saved and those who are being lost (2 Corinthians 2:15, GNT).
…Sue…
