Skip to main content

THE CHURCH'S PRAYER LIST

Here is a poem I wrote 8 years ago and it turned out to be rather prescient. At the time I was a pastor and wrote this poem for my people. Now I am rarely able even to go to church and I hope others have me on their prayer list.

THE CHURCH'S PRAYER LIST
I see your name each Sunday on the prayer list;
I know your pain seems more than you can bear;
I wonder if you know how much we miss you;
How very much we wish you could be there.

I tuck the Sunday prayer list in my Bible.
I check it every day before I pray.
It’s hard sometimes to understand God’s workings
Especially when things don’t go our way.

But He is in control, He never leaves us;
He’s promised to sustain us all our days;
And as you’ve testified, He keeps His promise
And in the midst of pain you sing His praise.

So as I pray for you MY faith grows stronger;
It’s in God’s plan that we should bring your need
Into the throne room of His gracious presence
As at His feet we bow and humbly plead.

That we would never let earth’s common pleasures
Keep us from daily reading of God’s Word
And that we take time for the church’s prayer list
Assured our every prayer by Him is heard.

So every day amid my hectic schedule
I take the time to think of you and pray
For you are on my mind so very often
As I rush about throughout my busy day.

You’re more than just a member of my church group
Which in my life plays such a major part.
You’re more than just a name on a piece of paper;
You’re a friend forever written on my heart.

Written by Joan Hart, November 3, 2007
Inspired by Ed Cook, and all the others whose name appear on our church prayer list from time to time.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

COMMUNION ON THE MOON

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. (Melody Beattie) Americans need a day dedicated to gratitude. I have noticed that in the lineup of most of our holidays that Thanksgiving is perhaps the one least given over to secularism - the one we still observe in a traditional fashion. We need it to keep our focus clear and to teach our children what it means to be thankful for family, friendship and faith. We need a time to gather around the table with extended family and enjoy turkey and dressing and gravy, two kinds of potatoes, cranberries, hot rolls, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie and whipped cream. We need it, not for the calories, but to create an awareness that there are those who don’t have those blessings, because in the hectic pace of our everyday lives we tend to forget those in need. Family and food are important, but above all else, Americans need a rededication to our faith. Faith brought the pilgrims to the ne...

ANNIE, THE CAT'S MEOW

  I first met Annie back in February 2004 after Milan told me to let him know what I wanted for for Valentine’s Day and he promised would get it for me no matter what it was. He has often joked that he should have have put some conditions on that. But he didn’t, and so I headed straight to the Humane Society animal shelter. It had been two long years since we had put our beloved Maine Coon cat to sleep, a big pile of what appeared to be nothing but fur, but had a huge heart hidden inside. We had named him Ollie in honor of Col. Oliver North who was our news hero at the time. I entered the cat compound at the Humane Society. There were only two cats inside, a brown tabby who ran to the other side of the pen away from me, and a little black and white girl who came running over to me and when I picked her up, she snuggled her head under my chin and began to purr. It was love at first sight. She was new there and they had not given her a name so I called her Annie. She was alway...

FELINE GHOSTS

FELINE GHOSTS... Feeling ghosts around me today Shadows of cats I have known Feline ghosts, I call them, Cats who have made this their home. Sometimes I feel the gentleness Of soft fur nestled close in my arms And it seems I can hear the soft purring Of remembered kitty cat charms I see them move through the shadows Just a glimpse, then out of my sight Sometimes it’s the white tail tipping That I see in the dark of the night The movements are quiet and fleeting I see them at nighttime and day Just figments of my imagination Grayson, Annie, or Ollie at play. They knew this house was their castle They reigned in each room where they played They slept when they wanted and ate all they could Feline memories stay close, they don’t fade. It’s autumn that I really miss them When hickory nuts start to fall I can see kitty faces so precious In the windows that line up my wall The hickory tree looks in the windows As squirrels ...