A Prayer for Healing

As the old Gospel Hymn goes, “Not my father, not my mother but it’s me O Lord, Standing in the need of prayer. Not my sister, not my brother but it’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.”

         Dear God, help us this day as we hide behind the masks we so carefully place over our pain. We take a minute this day to say, here is where I am broken, here is where it hurts, here is where I’m feeling the symptoms of pain in my body, in my spirit, in my heart. We are standing in the need of prayer.

         God, the Great Physician, touch the aching bones and the overworked eyes. Touch the swollen ankles and the ears that no longer hear. Touch the tumors and the damaged organs and heal the broken places within our bodies. We stand in the need of prayer.

         Unbind those held down by fear and death and sorrow. Break the chains that bind those trying to live free. Remove from those immobilized, the foot of evil crushing necks and silencing voices crying for help. We stand in the need of prayer.

         We pray for those who are unsheltered, imprisoned, lonely, addicted, and those immobilized be their grief. We pray for the ones who have lost their faith, lost their way, lost their joy. We pray for the marginalized, oppressed, and disillusioned, and we pray that peace will come to them, a peace that cannot be stolen by doctor’s reports, medical bills, abuse, harm, sleepless nights or unmanaged pain. We pray for their peace.

         We pray for this city and state, for the asylum seekers and government leaders, for pastors and spiritual directors, for healthcare workers and educators, for your churches and places of worship where people gather searching for ways to serve you by serving others. We pray for their wisdom.

         We pray for those whose homes and lands are ravaged by climate disasters, for the climate refugees forced from the places they love. We pray for the countries, nations, homes, and hearts spoiled by violence and war. We pray for the planet that groans in distress, the indigenous people, the animals, land, and wildlife most deeply affected by our greed. We pray for places in the world, in our nation, on our streets where mothers cannot feed their children and fathers cannot make a living wage, for all those turned away from services, whether they be for mental, physical, or spiritual health. We pray for those who cannot raise their voices to pray for themselves, for those having to lean upon the faith of others this day, for those who do not even recognize they too stand in the need of prayer.

         And as the candles are lit and the oil anointing, as the prayers are raised and the weeping has not yet turned to praise and the mourning to dancing, we ask that You hear our prayers, hear our trouble, and give us peace. Amen.

You are the light of the world.

Yours,

Lynne