A prayer for Orlando, the Church and my heart
The following is a transcript of a prayer I wrote and read at Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee during services on June 26, 2016.
Gracious Father,
Hear our prayers. We give you the praise you so rightfully deserve this morning. How beautiful and great You are. The heavens declare Your glory; the skies proclaim the work of Your hands. Would you reoriente our hearts back to yours. We are prone to wander. We feel it. We so easily lose sight of our first love. Would you settle the uneasiness inside of us this morning. Where there is doubt, bring peace. Where there is arrogance, bring humility. Where there is hate, bring love.
In like manner, by seeing you in your rightful place, our own inner poverty is revealed. We were born sick and our hearts are wicked by nature; it is by your grace and mercy alone we find hope. As St. Augustine once wrote, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you. Would you forgive us Lord for our pride. For the manners in which we seek to self-gratify. For the ways we manipulate and use people for our own benefit and personal gain. For the ways we misplace your good gifts and make them ultimate in our hearts. We praise you that it is your kindness that leads us to repentance.
We pray for the victims and families affected in the Orlando nightclub shooting. Would you draw near to the families and those hurting as we weep and mourn alongside them. Father, remind us of Dr. King’s words that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Would you make us conduits of your kindness and mercy to our friends, neighbors, and loved ones in the LGBTQ community. Help us to love in a way that turns lines of division into bridges for hope and reconciliation. Help us resist polarization and respond with humility and grace. Remind us that the more conservative we are in our belief that every single word of the Bible is right and good and true, the more liberal we will be in the ways we love.
We thank you for the rich blessings you continue to pour over Christ Presbyterian Church. We ask that you grant wisdom, guidance, and protection to the pastoral staff, specifically Scott, Casey, Todd, Derrick, David, Stacey, and Russ, as they seek to lead our church in a way that follows Christ in his mission to love people, places, and things to life.
We praise you for our jobs and the various spheres of influence and industries you have entrusted each of us with. Would you make us aware that we are vocational beings by nature, and that our work — in whatever area you have us placed — matters to you.
We thank you for both the local churches in Nashville and the global churches that are seeking to bring you glory. Father we pray gratefully and expectantly for the work you have done and continue to do to fulfill the great commission through your Church. We ask for your protection and blessing over the missionaries and the missional partnerships CPC supports. Through their faithful work and service would you make your name greater.
We ask that you would draw near to the hurting in our cities and in our pews today. We live in a world broken by the fall. Things like unexpected medical diagnoses, unemployment, debt, depression, doubt, loneliness, and loss affect each and everyone of us. Remind us we have a high priest who empathizes with our weaknesses, yet He did not sin. And because He is a heavenly high priest, He can be a helpful high priest. Through your word and your people, would you help us to believe the gospel a little more today.
Hear our prayers, O Lord. Realign our hearts with yours.
It’s in the matchless, kind, and powerful name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
