Nina had eye surgery again last week,  I wrote a bit of a story and prayer about it for church reflecting on Acts 2: 22 – 47.  I have decided to share here.

This week, Nina, my 4 year old daughter had eye surgery.  I held her in my arms as they put her to sleep and it was pretty stressful to say the least but in the midst of of all the machines beeping and he medical staff running here and there I found myself giving thanks.  Having held Nina in hospitals in countries with far scarcer resources I felt grateful for the abundance of of Alice Springs hospital.  Having heard recently of a friend’s 15 year old daughter with cancer I felt grateful Nina was not having chemotherapy or anything equally as serious/  Having spent time this week with women who do not have their children in their care I felt grateful I could hold her at all.  Having turned on the TV numerous times in recent days and watched mothers in Nepal, Syria and Indonesia weep over their children I felt grateful for her life.  And after the surgery I felt grateful for the nursing staff, who cared for us.  I felt grateful for our community who sent us message, prayers, gave us pie and allowed me to debrief endlessly.  I reminded me of something of the early church described here in Acts.

And while it may be too early to say, it  seems the results of the surgery were not as we had hoped for but as I read this passage from Acts about the promises of God – promises not always fulfilled as  David experiences as we imagine they will be – I realise the journey of faith is one of hope.  In the midst of uncertainty we trust that God will be faithful to his promises, that his Spirit will be with us.

Let’s pray.

Holy Spirit, moving amongst us, to you we pray this morning.  We thank you for your presence here – in our songs, words, prayers and in this bread to be broken.  We thank you for this church and you graciousness to us as we stumble to bring something of your love to the people in our lives.  We pray to be guided by the vision of the early church to be a place of sharing, community and grace.  We also thank you for other churches and people around the world who are also trying to follow and find you in the struggles of their lives and communities.  We pray they will be fled with love, wisdom and hope and will be provided with the resources they need for their work.

Holy Spirit, how we have felt your presence in the Spirit of our children here.  We pray for each of them and all the children of Alice Springs and the world.  We pray for the young people who aimlessly wander our streets at night, we pray for children who have lost parents and parents who have lost children.  We pray for children who are sick, lost or have become adults far to young through work or caring for others or over exposure to an adult world.  We pray for schools, organisations and friends who walk with them, that they will be patient, wise and non judgmental.  We pray for parents, especially mothers, this mother’s day, that they will hold them close and somehow find that elusive balance of firm yet gentle.  For that we need your spirit to give us wisdom, grace and hope.

So we thank you for this time to pray.  While sometimes prayer and faith can be a struggle when things are uncertain we know that it can change us and connect us to you and the world.  And as we read the stories of old – of slavery to freedom, persecution to liberation and share new stories as we have today of helplessness to empowerment we pray in deep faith that our prayers for ourselves, our families, our communities and our hopes for a better world will be heard by you and your promise of resurrection from all the crucifixions of our live will be fulfilled.

in the name of Christ, Amen.