Prayer
Great are you, Lord God, and greatly to be praised. You are gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. You are faithful in all your words and gracious in all your deeds. You uphold all who are falling and raise up all who are bowed down. You are near to all who call on you.
We therefore pray for each one in our CBM community – each partner, each church member, each beneficiary and each supporter who finds themselves this day struggling with the various challenges of living faithfully and abundantly. Comfort those who are mourning. Heal those who are sick. Provide for those who are in need. And companion those who are alone. In particular, we bring before you the families around the world who have lost loved ones during these past months of the pandemic.
You are just in all your ways and kind in all your doings.
We therefore pray for the work of our CBM colleagues – each project, each initiative, each plan and each possibility. Enliven the mandate. Encourage the participants. Enable the effort. And enlist your faithful that on earth it may be as it is in heaven. In particular, we pray for the leaders who have been participants in Rev. Gato’s teaching on peace and reconciliation. May they be agents of shalom amongst their communities.
Your awesome deeds shall be proclaimed.
We therefore thank you for the ways in which we have seen you at work. We are grateful for your protection – protection of our colleagues who are travelling, crossing borders, and facing dangerous circumstances. We are grateful for your providence – the ways in which you make our paths smooth and bring the right people into our lives at just the right moments. And we are grateful for your presence – your constancy as we each attempt to be your ambassadors in the contexts you have places us.
My mouth speaks the praise of the Lord and we together will bless your holy name forever and ever. Amen.
