Prayer For Homesickness
Let me steward well, Lord Christ,
this gift of homesicknessthis grieving for a
childhood gone, this ache for distant family,
lost fellowship, past laughter, shared lives, and
the sense that I was somewhere I belonged.
It is a good, good thing to have a home.
But now that I have gone from it, let me steward
well, O God, this homesick gift, as I know my
wish for what has been is not some solitary
ache, but is woven with a deeper longing
for what will one day be.
This yearning to return to what I knew is,
even more than that, a yearning for a place
my eyes have yet to see.
So let me steward this sacred yearning well.
Homesickness is indeed a holy thing,
like the slow burning of an immortal beacon,
set ablaze to bid us onward.
The shape of that ache for another time
and place is the imprint of eternity
within our souls.
So let those sorrows do their work in me,
O God. Let them stir such yearnings as would
fix my journey forward toward that place for
which I've always pined.
O my soul, have there not always been signs?
O my soul, were we not born with hearts on
fire? Before we were old enough even to know
why songs and waves and starlight so stirred
us, had we not already tiptoed to the edge of
that vast sadness, bright and good, and felt
ourselves somehow stricken with a sickness
unto life? Hardly had we ventured from our
yards, when we felt ourselves so strangely far
from somethingand somewhere that we
despaired of ever reachingthat we turned to
hide the welling of our eyes.
We knew it, even then, as the opening of a
wound this world cannot repair
the first birthing of that weight
every soul must wake up to alone,
because it is the burden
of that wild and
lonely space that only
God in his eternity can fill.
And as we wait, this sacred, homesick sorrow
works in us to cultivate a faith
that knows one day, he will.
That is the holy work of homesickness:
to teach our hearts how lonely
they have always been for God.
So let these sighs and tears, Lord Christ, prepare
me for that better gladness that will be mine.
Let all your children learn to grieve well in this
life, knowing we are not just being homesick;
we are letting sorrow carve
the spaces in our souls,
that joy will one day fill.
O Holy Spirit, bless our grief, and
seal our hearts until that day.
Amen.
Heavenly Father, we praise you that this world is not our home! Everything seems broken and laden with sin, but we take great comfort in your patience and mercy toward us, and that you have prepared a place before us. Whatever joys or trials we face in this life, help us to remember our true home lies elsewhere. Please keep us strong until our time on Earth is done. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Lord, we all are homesick. We are longing for a place where we are understood, supported, loved. We are longing to be with You.
Thank You for the glimpse we get of that in our chapels. Thank You for the volunteersthe ones who teach the kids, rock the babies, hand out the bulletins, drive the widows, play the music. Thank You for quick and sturdy friendships. Thank You for Your Word being proclaimed. Thank You for refuge, and recharge.
And we pray that our chapels will be a taste of our heavenly home for more people. Disturb us Lord. Don't let us grow complacent. Don't let us wait for someone else to step forward. Give us joy in doing Your mission.
We pray for our chapels in Afghanistan, Iraq, Korea and other places around the world. And for the ones on the ships, on the home bases. May they be beacons of Your hope and may they be life-changing for our deployed.
Lord use us. Use us to save our veterans from depression. Use us to strengthen their marriages, show them hope for a future, help them raise their children, help them find a purpose.
And Lord please use our warriors. May their missions be right, and be successful. May the innocent be protected. May the Christians shine in the ranks.
We pray for supplies,
for working equipment,
for good communication,
for health,
for sleep.
We pray You will guard their hearts.
We pray for those preparing for deployment, and those preparing to come home. Lord, be the grace that surrounds them.
We pray for those considering the military. Please guide them in the way they should go. Help the new recruits to push themselves, and find their strength in You.
We pray for the health of many friends with all this flu going around.
We pray for houses being bought and sold and rented. Lord, we trust in You as our all-providing Shepherd.
And we trust in You to lead us. We pray for the new orders cominggive us peace as we accept our new adventures. We pray for wisdom for the promotion boards. We trust You in all.
Thank You for blessing us with this life, and using us.
Amen.
Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.