God of Many Names
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in time of trouble. Therefore, we will not fear.” Psalm 46:1-2
Holy and Loving God, we come to You from many places, the physical and spiritual. We use different names and descriptions and ideas when we talk about You, or come before You in prayer or to worship. Some call You Wisdom, Father, Judge, Lord, Mother, Creator, the All Merciful, Almighty and the Ground of All Being. Some know you as Omniscient, Omnipresent, Allah, Dios and Triune and others as the all-pervading eternal.
You heard our cries in a million ways and a billion voices. With the miracle of the entire Thai soccer team rescue and their reunion with families the world pauses to gives great thanks. Comfort the family of the diver who sacrificed his life in the rescue. Be with the grieving families who have lost loved ones during a storm that capsized a tourist boat off Phuket, Thailand.
Across every imaginable boundary and dark water we pray for mercy, miracle, intervention and protection. We do not fully understand the mystery of prayer, meditation and vigil, but we are wise enough to say, “Thank you, God”.
Loving God, we offer prayers on behalf of the many known and unknown needs and crises, fears, hurts and deepest sorrows imaginable, the looming conflicts that beg for resolution, a release. Your children and their coach, alone, in a dark cave, with waters rising and air diminishing, their waiting is a reminder of the suffering in this world that longs for comfort, refuge and complete healing. We ask your mercy for the families escaping violence in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, who seek asylum in the US and for those parents and children separated at US – Mexico border we ask for their swift reunion and healing from the traumas. God have mercy. Renew our faith. For whole villages fleeing war in Syria and Yemen we call upon You God and Your mercy spread out for all people. End these wars. Bring Your peace on earth. For citizens afraid of government, or of other citizens; for neighborhoods under menace of guns, opioids and gangs; for people weakened by disease, those blinded by prejudice and dominated by fear – we pray.
My God, O Lord, it can seem so dark.
And like our Thai soccer youth and coach, we treasure Your presence of light in the persons of doctors, nurses, divers, and soldiers, people of courage and conviction and skill who never lose hope.
Bless those,
whose life is love,
whose love is faith,
whose faith is action,
whose action is of You.
Amen.
Leave a Reply