A Concord Pastor Comments: Pause for Prayer: THURSDAY 11/14

Thanksgiving is just two weeks away. Folks are making travel plans and menu choices... Some are looking forward to being together again with family and friends they've not seen in some time... Others are remembering loved ones, who won't be at the table this year, whose chair will be empty, perhaps for the first tim...

For many, even for most of us, "the holidays" are a bittersweet time... a season when to be especially sensitive to others since we often don't know the burdens, heartache and memories they carry through the holidays...

So, here's my annual Thanksgiving post:Prayer at an Empty Chair. Yes, it's two weeks early, but not so early that it might not help those who find the holidays to be a difficult time. (I'll post this again on Thanksgiving Day.) I hope this prayer will help all of us prepare for Thanksgiving- I know it helps me...

Some families have used this prayer as their grace before dinner on Thanksgiving Day and I know many have forwarded and posted this in a variety of ways. As always, please feel free to share this and any prayer you find on my blog. I only ask that you include the credit: ConcordPastor.blogspot.com)

Prayer at an Empty Chair

This Thanksgiving, Lord,

there’ll be an empty chair at our table,
an ache in our hearts and tears on our cheeks...

We might try, we might even succeed
in shielding our grief from others
- but we cannot hide our hearts from you...

So, today we pray for (name your loved ones)
whose loving presence we miss
at this homecoming time...

Help us remember and tell again

the stories of all we shared

with the very ones we miss so much...

Open our hearts to our joyful memories
of the times and love we knew and shared
with those who've gone before us...

And with your gentle touch, Lord,
smooth and mend any ragged, broken edges
still in need of your merciful healing...

May the bonds you forged among us

grow stronger in our remembering

our loved ones now gone home to you…

Help us trust in faith

that those we miss so much
have a place now in your heart
and in heaven, a seat at your table...

Deepen and strengthen our hope
that one day we'll see them once again
and enjoy their company and love...

Teach us, Lord, to lean on those around us
for the help and support we need
when our spirits flag and fail us…

Open our hearts and souls, Lord,
to the warmth of your presence,
around us, within us, among us...

Be with us to console us and,

as you now embrace the ones we miss,
hold us, too, along with them,
in your everlasting arms...

Draw us to moments of quiet prayer,
to time to share our tears of loss

and our memories,

now the souvenirs of joyful days gone by...

In all things, Lord, help us recall
today's the day that you have made!

Help us give thanks for all your gifts

especially for all the peace we've known,

in family, friends and faith,

in those in whom we've found and known

your mercy and your love...

Amen.

Thank You

by Robert Klein and Donna Bukevicz

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