Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ at Pax Pres,
This week’s prayer is inspired by my daily experience of watching cars drive by the Pax Pres building on Route 4. Join me in prayer:
Gracious God, across this planet, in your providence you have established “outposts” of your kingdom here on earth: local churches like our beloved PaxPres. You call all who are disciples of Jesus to go and make disciples of all nations. Here at PaxPres, God, even the address of our church building is in your hands. You’ve put us in the state, county, and region you have because you have a mission for us to grow and make disciples of Jesus in Southern Maryland and across the world.
I give you special thanks, God, for the history of the people of PaxPres, who have literally moved addresses in our history as a church. From the years on Town Creek Drive to the couple years in a Wildewood storefront to our current location on Kingston Creek Road, God, you put us where we are for a reason. We give thanks for those who have gone before us who have sought to love neighbors and make disciples from one location to the next.
We pray today for every person who drives by the building you’ve provided to the people of Pax Pres. I see car after car speed along Route 4 and know that each person in each car has needs that only you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, can meet. Though our building is by no means “who we are,” it represents us to our neighbors. Therefore we pray for all who cross paths with PaxPres. Through the power of Jesus and your Spirit, bring works of healing, salvation, and new life to all who drive by, that we might have the joy of joining them in bringing praise to Your name.
God, we give thanks for all who come through the doors of our PaxPres facilities. Even during the pandemic lockdown, many people still make use of the space you have gifted to us. Help us to be kind and compassionate in our welcome to children, teens, and adults alike who for any reason find their way into our building. Bring works of healing, salvation, and new life to each of them in the name of Jesus and through our efforts to minister to them and bless them.
God, though you put our building at this specific address, the fact is that “your church,” “PaxPres,” is dispersed six and a half days a week all across Southern Maryland and beyond. We pray for your church sent out on daily mission. Every one of us who calls PaxPres “home” will interact with someone, if not many people, today. We pray that each of us can be the light of Jesus for someone to see today: a neighbor, a co-worker, a store clerk, someone six feet behind us in line at the store or the doctor’s office, and more. Make us aware of how we can point them to Jesus somehow today through our words and our actions.
God, we pray for dear friends and fellow saints in Christ who have not set foot in the PaxPres building for so long now because of the pandemic. Wherever they each find themselves today, you have put them there for a reason. Spirit, meet them in their sense of isolation; show them how they can abide in you, Jesus, and be a blessing to others even while they are away from the church building they hold dear.
God, sometimes we admit we get antsy. Especially on pandemic lockdown, we get tired of “where we are.” Yet you have put us - individually and as a church - exactly where we are today because you have a mission for us. Wake us up to that mission; stir us out of complacency. Empower us to be disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus, right at the address where you’ve put us. We pray all this in His name and for His glory. Amen.
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