A prayer for healing

We pray for others:

Lord, we ask you to heal those whose lives have been blighted by abuse, treachery or trauma of any kind.  Weave your love around those who are depressed. Breathe your calm to those who are anxious.

Bless those whose unholy practices have led them to a life marked by wretchedness, addiction or impiety.

Dismantle those huge empires whose god is profit;  break down their mechanisms of control;  release from their untempered greed, those they oppress.

Shackle those for whom violence is a way of life;  disconnect them from each other; bring to nothing their mechanism of savagery;   disempower them.  Bless and rescue those they oppress.  Shore up resilient people who will withstand their abuse and build strong communities, in place of shattered ones.

We pray for ourselves: help us to connect with each other with encouragement, caring and mutual belief.  Inhabit our loneliness;  dispel our fears;  nurture our love. Be our vision and kindle our faith. Mend our brokenness; confront our prejudices;  temper our affluence;  teach us to pray.

Our love of convenience and our affluence make us extravagant with the resources of your earth.  Give us the will to change our habits and appetites.

The edict to be holy is difficult for us. Our resentments and wrong attitudes get in the way, and scuttle our holiness.  We give them up to your power.

Lord, sometimes the stones of our self-pity weigh us down.  We give you our hurts and ask you to heal us.

Sometimes the travesty of injustice stings us.  Give us your strength and resilience to bear it with joy.

In the lure of temptation, give us power to overcome.

Lord, you roll our frailty back and forth through the rocks of trial and disappointment until we are gleaned to usefulness and holiness.  Give us the spirit of endurance and thankfulness.

We are your faithful people;  keep us pure.  Bless us daily with the light of your countenance and the blessing of your peace.  Make us a blessing to others.

Keep us listening to the still, small voice.
 

Thank you for your generosity to us in providing so much for our health and enrichment. Thank you for those who love us. Thank you for rain and stars and steadfast moon;  for music and books;  for education;  for good incomes.  For parents who did their best.  Thank you for food and fresh water. We lift our faces to your benevolence Oh God, then turn to share it with those who do not have as much.

We pray these gathered prayers in the name of Jesus, whose name is above every name; whose power is above all others; whose face beholds God’s face; whose word commands the angels and whose light will never be extinguished. Amen

Please feel free to use this prayer publicly but please acknowledge that I wrote it :)