Heavenly Father,
Thank you for being concerned about every aspect of our health and well-being: physical, mental and emotional as well as spiritual. We come to you now in our different situations: some excited and delighted, full of hope and energy; some weary and despondent; some trying to survive heartbreak and anguish; some dealing with relentless physical pain. Thank you for knowing and caring about all of our individual joys, hopes, dreams, fears and sorrows.
Lord, we pray first of all for realism and acceptance. Thank you Lord, that you understand that we are not always OK. Thank you for the knowledge that Jesus lived as a human; that he sometimes needed to be alone; that he knew the pain of bereavement; that he cried. Please remind us to accept sadness and anxiety and fear as part of our human experience, and to allow ourselves and each other to be depressed, anxious, angry or sad and to give ourselves and each other time and space to heal.
Secondly, Father, we ask for basic needs to be met throughout he world. Please bring peace where there is war. Bring food and water and medical supplies where there is poverty and need. Bring shelter where homes have been destroyed or where people have been displaced. Bring safe, dignified work to those who are unemployed or oppressed. Bring freedom to those who are enslaved. Bring basic sanitation to areas where there is none. Please provide the essentials of life throughout the world so that people can be ready for education and peace and faith, and so that hearts and minds can be healthy and thrive.
Thirdly, Lord, we ask you to show us how we can stand alongside each other. Help us to work out what our friends and family need and to provide it, whether it be a listening ear, some advice, a shoulder to cry on, a duvet day, a chocolate cake, a walk in the countryside or some help with their job applications. Give us discernment and empathy so that we can provide the right kind of support in the right kind of way at the right time.
And finally, please remind us to pray together and to pray for each other. Even when we don’t know exactly what to pray or what outcome is the best; even when our pain is so extreme that we can’t put it into words; even when we feel too weary to pray and when we begin to wonder whether it makes any difference anyway, please take our mustard seeds of faith and accept them and nurture them. And please help us to develop habits of praying with and for each other, so that in times of weakness, when we are unable to think or to plan, we follow the habit of prayer.
Amen.