EChurch@Wartburg 07.17.21 -Wade Burleson: Affection

A prayer for those who have been abused

God of endless love,
ever caring, ever strong,
always present, always just:
You gave your only Son
to save us by the blood of his cross.

Gentle Jesus, shepherd of peace,
join to your own suffering
the pain of all who have been hurt
in body, mind, and spirit
by those who betrayed the trust placed in them.

Hear the cries of our brothers and sisters
who have been gravely harmed,
and the cries of those who love them.
Soothe their restless hearts with hope,
steady their shaken spirits with faith.
Grant them justice for their cause,
enlightened by your truth.

Holy Spirit, comforter of hearts,
heal your people’s wounds
and transform brokenness into wholeness.
Grant us the courage and wisdom,
humility and grace, to act with justice.
Breathe wisdom into our prayers and labors.
Grant that all harmed by abuse may find peace in justice.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Amen.

For the unity of God’s People:1928 Book of Common Prayer

GOD, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Saviour, the Prince of Peace;
Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions.
Take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatsoever else may hinder us from godly, union and concord:
that as there is but one Body and one Spirit, and one hope of our calling,
one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all,
so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace,
of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Prayer of confession 

O Holy One, we call to you and name you as eternal, ever-present, and boundless in love.
Yet there are times, O God, when we fail to recognize you in the dailyness of our lives.
Sometimes shame clenches tightly around our hearts, and we hide our true feelings.
Sometimes fear makes us small, and we miss the chance to speak from our strength.
Sometimes doubt invades our hopefulness, and we degrade our own wisdom.

Holy God, in the daily round from sunrise to sunset,
remind us again of your holy presence hovering near us and in us.
Free us from shame and self-doubt.
Help us to see you in the moment-by-moment possibilities to live honestly,
to act courageously, and to speak from our wisdom.
Amen

John 9:25-27 NIV

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby,
he said to her, “Woman,[b] here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.”
From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

Irish benediction

The Lord give us peace in our going out and our coming in,
in our lying down and in our rising up, in our labor and in our leisure,
in our laughter and in our tears;
until we come to stand before him on that day to which there is no sunset and no dawn,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Comments

EChurch@Wartburg 07.17.21 -Wade Burleson: Affection — 2 Comments

  1. The Irish benediction has a derivative in the Book of Common Prayed. It will be my recitation for the week.

  2. This prayer – variations of which were famously used by Martin Luther King, Jr, Robert Schuller, and others – is reminiscent of Psalm 139:1 “LORD, you have searched me out and known me; you know my sitting down and my rising up”