Prayers

St. John’s Episcopal Church is a praying community with a strong tradition of praying for others, known as intercessory prayer. We have a prayer box with pencils and paper in the entrance to our church. Write your request and leave it in the box, if you visit our church. If you would like our church to pray for you or someone you know, you can also send a message to priest@stjohnsharpersferry.org and ask for prayer. Please tell us if you want us to put the prayer here on our web page, so that others outside our church can pray for you, or if you would prefer to have it read at church services, or both.

Current prayer requests

• We asked special prayers for Ruth Hadden who has suffered a stroke but is doing well; please keep her in our thoughts and prayers.
• Please pray for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Please pray for the safety of Gerard (Jerry) Gallucci, U.N. representative in Mitrovica, in the newly declared nation of Kosovo. Please pray for peace between Kosovo and Serbia.
• Please pray for the health and safety of Ambassador to Peru Michael McKinley.
• Please pray for the mission and safety of West Virginian the Rev. Zach Drennen in Kenya.
• Please pray for West Virginian Stephen Day, and his mission in Tanzania.

Appalachian Trail Hiker Prayer Requests

• Please pray for "Little Bear" and "Turtle Fast," who just received news that his father passed away unexpectedly at age 57 of organ failure. May they find comfort in the promise of our Lord.
  
  
• Another hiker asks, Please pray for those who struggle with depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders. May they find solace in the Lord.
  
  
• Another hiker asks prayers for Kirstin, of Sarasota, Florida, who has recently (July 2008) been diagnosed with breast cancer
  

• Please remember in your prayers Wayne Kitchen, surgery, Josephine Bratina, pneumonia, and Martha Buchko, MRSA infection. Please offer prayers of thanks for the healing of the Rev. Tony Clavier and Annette Hale, and pray for strength for them as they recover from the effects of extended chemotherapy.

For Solace

• Please remember in your prayers William "Sonny" Hough who suffers from inoperable embolisms in both legs.
  
  May Christ support him all the day long, till the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes,
  and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over and his work is done.
  Then in His mercy may he give him a safe lodging, and holy rest and peace at the last. Amen
  

For Comfort in Mourning

• Please pray for the consolation of the family of Mrs. Madalean McIver, and especially Sandra McIver, Lawson McIver, and Nellie Lawson. (Take Madalean McIver out of Healing section.)
• Please pray for the consolation of the family of Nathan Stiles, and especially Richard and Patricia Stiles.

Prayer Attributed to St. Francis

Lord, make us intruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us wo love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where ther is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkeness, light; where ther is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be undertsood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

The Book of Common Prayer, p. 833

For the Human Family

O God, you made us in your image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred that infect our hearts;

Break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Book of Common Prayer, p. 815

For Recovery from Sickness

O God, the strength of the weak and the comfort of sufferers: Mercifullay accept our prayers, and grant to your servants the help of your power, that their sickenss may be turned into health, and our sorrow into joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

The Book of Common Prayer, p. 458

For those who mourn

Almighty God, look with pity upon the sorrows of your servants for whom we pray. Remember them, Lord, in mercy; nourish them with patience; comfort them with a sense of your goodness; lift up your countenance upon them; and give them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For those in the Armed Forces of our Country

Almighty God, we commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women of our armed forces at home and abroad. Defend them day by day with your havenly grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and gran them a sense of your adiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Book of Common Prayer, p. 823

For Guidance

Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with your most gracious favor, and further us with your continual help; that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in you, we may glorify your holy Name, and finally, by your mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Book of Common Prayer, p. 832