A PRAYER FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

1 Kings 17 (NIV)

8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”

19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”

22 The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”

24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

Do you hear us, O God?

In the night when sleep comes not

and worries dance

and fears fill the hours

Do you hear our desperate cries?

When we have sat by the bedside

of a sick and wounded friend

When we have visited and had another conversation with a parent who cannot respond

Do you hear our mournful sighs?

Do you hear us, O God?

When our cries for safety are answered with more war, more violence, more terror

When we bury too many brothers and sisters

when too many parents become childless

and too many children are orphaned

Do you hear our pleas for peace?

When our children cry out with empty stomachs

cupboards are bare

the refrigerator empty

money gone

local pantry closed

Do you hear our hunger pangs?

We pray to you O God

knowing and believing

You hear

You listen

You love

You act

We know and believe that your Spirit stirs in our slumber and greets us each morning

We know and believe you are present with us in our living and in our dying

We know and believe that your Kingdom of peace and justice will reign forever

We know and believe that we will all feast at your banquet and dance in your sunshine

We pray to you O God

knowing and believing

You hear

You listen

You love

You act

Amen