Wilderness Prayer A Pastoral Prayer Based on Genesis 21:8-21
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Dear God,
Today, as we have arrived this morning in worship, we can’t help but notice how the summertime season is upon us. Sunshine, heat, humidity, and summer storms are the accompaniment to our many moments as we move through the days and weeks of this beautiful season.
The notes of the crickets and cicadas sing sweet lullabies to our ears. The birds ring out their joyous melodies as we awaken each morning. And the light, sweeping airs of the summer breezes refresh us throughout these long and light-filled days.
And we are so thankful.
But even as we notice all the abundance, God, we also know that in this season, there is want.
As the summer heat builds up, day after day, not every afternoon holds a refreshing storm to wet the soil and cool our brows. Some days the heat is oppressive, and we feel spent as we toil under relentless conditions. Our bodies begin to labor, and our palettes begin to languish as we realize just how much we lack.
We thirst and we search for that which will replenish us, quench us, and give nourishment to us.
As we realize that the days of this season hold so much, God, we also realize that they demand and lack so much too.
And as we recognize these truths about the season, as the Spirit nudges our minds and souls, so too do we realize the same about the seasons of our own lives.
For some of us, this season of our life holds so much. So much joy, abundance, happiness, light, and love.
For others of us, this season of our life demands so much. Some days seem too difficult to tend to ourselves, our relationships, our commitments, and our faithfulness to you. We languish, and we toil, and we cannot quench our parched and thirsty souls.
And for yet, still, for others of us, this season of our life lacks so much. We are so lonely. We are so tired. We long to experience the joy of connection and the happiness of friendship and family, yet, we find ourselves in a wilderness. Moment by moment we wander, finding it more and more difficult and hopeless with every breath and every step we take. It overwhelms us, it oppresses us, and it abandons us to what seems like a world of unending and unquenchable pain.
Dear God: replenish us, quench us, and give nourishment to us!
Replenish our hope and refresh us as we walk though the wilderness of grief, addiction, loss, struggle, and burden.
Quench our thirst and sustain us as we move through the wilderness of financial strain, familial hardships, employment difficulties, and isolation from relationships and connection.
Nourish our needs that only you know, dear God, and strengthen us as we cry out to you, each of us, from our own unique places in the wilderness, as we find ourselves overcome with despair and close to death in our lives, our hearts, and our souls.
Open our eyes to the healing, to the blessings, and to the transformations that you have for us, God.
Grant us your grace as we pick ourselves up, to follow Christ, as we are led by the Holy Spirit, to find our hopeful way through every wilderness we face.
And help us to share every fear we have with you, as we endeavor to place our trust in you to satisfy our every need.
Surround us with your steadfast love, O God, as we pick up our heads, and look to your way of promise and everlasting grace…
Both today, and every day.
Amen.
Andrea Corso Johnson
Pastor for families