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Lord, with us

The prayers of the people, January 9, 2022 at Water Street Church.

Lord, it is good to be here with you. We’ve celebrated the time of Advent and Christmas, the time of your first arrival. It’s such a comfort to us that you can be with us. And we desire to be with you. As we started this new year…. Well, it has been a bit rocky for the first week. And we just thank you that through the rocky start we’ve had, all the tensions of the pandemic and the other tensions in our world, environmental and weather and political turmoil, we thank you that you are sovereign. None of the struggles that we go through are affecting your sovereignty, or diminishing it. None of them are stopping your great plan to renew the creation.

We pray as we walk through this new year, whatever lies ahead, that our eyes might be opened, opened to see the world as you see it, your reality,  your story in history, and we pray that as we focus on you and on your story, that we might walk into that story more deeply and closely with you. And so we pray, Holy Spirit, for you to come and to propel us as your people to be witnesses and to spread good news all around us. We pray, Lord, for our neighbours, our own neighbours personally where we live, where we work, where we study, and also, right here, for our neighbours around the Water Street community.

We also pray, Lord, for our land and our leaders. It’s tough to make decisions today, as a leader, and it seems no matter what decisions are made there are plenty of critics. Lord, we pray that you will give wisdom to our leaders and that you will give us a spirit of cooperation. We have prayed many times for our frontline workers, and we raise them up to you once again, for the people who dedicate their lives to providing health care for us and for our land. We know how difficult that job has been, and so we pray that you will bless them. It’s amazing, Lord, that they are wiling to be your hands and feet, maybe unknowingly, to bless us with healing and care. We pray, Lord, for teachers and students, and families where everyone is trying to make the best of a difficult situation. We pray for our elderly, our loved ones who are confined and cannot receive visitors at this time. Again, Lord, that’s a lonely place, and so we ask that you will be with them, and that you will also spur us on to reach out to them. We pray for those who are hurting financially, and for the loss of work, the loss of business. We pray for justice, for provision for everyone who is affected this way. Give us the willingness to work together, not just for the people in your church, but with everyone bringing this pandemic under control.

We thank you,  Lord, for the Water Street church community, for our leaders. We pray that as we are going into a time of transition that you would bless them with vision and with wisdom. Will you guide the preparations for an interim pastor, and will you prepare us for ministries which will certainly become possible. We pray for continued unity in spirit for the Water Street Church.

We think about some of the people in our church community, ….. will you bless them with grace and endurance, and hope. We pray for those who mourn sudden loss… bless them and give them peace. We pray for those who are going through the journey of healing from injury, that their lives may be restored to full capacity, to serve  you.

Thank you, Lord, for loving us. Thank you for being with us, for coming to us.

~ Water Street is a praying church. Please contact us if you would like someone to pray with you.

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