Today we had a terrific National Day of Prayer Service at Morgantown Care and Rehab. The event was well attended by our elders and stakeholders and several from the community. Butler County Judge Executive, David Fields was with us as well as City of Morgantown Mayor, Linda Keown.
We began our service with a few words of greeting and instructions about how our service will proceed and about all the special prayers we collected for this event. I (Chaplain Derek) and Activities Assistant, Helen Phelps, over the course of this week collected prayers from many of our elders. When we couldn’t collect a prayer I simply wrote a prayer for them. All of these prayers were then attached to balloons which we would release at the end of this service!
I led the congregation in “Sweet Hour of Prayer” a beautiful expression of the joy that can come when believers, individually and corporately, pray regularly.
Sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief,
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare,
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!Sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To Him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His Word and trust His grace,
I’ll cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Our singing was followed by a prayer of confession and then our Director of Volunteer Services, Shirley Allen led us in prayer for youth and families. She was followed by our Administrator, Logan Midkiff with a prayer for friends, neighbors, co-works, and strangers. Lynn Harris, Director of Social Services then read 2 Chronicles 7:14
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
The first prayer offered by one of our elders in today’s service was by elder Myrtle Givens who prayed for all who suffer and grieve.
“We are a people standing in defiance of suffering. May we with your light dispel the darkness of suffering throughout our lives and the world!”
Following Ms. Given’s prayer I prayed for our national and local leaders like our president and the cabinet and also our local judge executive and mayor. I also shared a prayer for our men and women of the armed forces.
Debbie Coleman, Assistant Director of Nursing, shared a passage of scripture with us from 1 Timothy 2:1-4.
“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
Elder Bonnie McKinney shared a wonderful prayer for the world that was followed by our singing the black spiritual, “Stand’n in the Need of Prayer.”
The last prayer in our service today was a prayer for ourselves. Following this several of our stakeholders took bunches of balloons with prayers attached to the parking lot in front of our facility to release the balloons. We counted down and then they were all released into the sky. Check out the video below for footage of the release!
After this last hoorah we closed our service with a response from the people:
Leader: We rejoice in sweet communion with our God.
People: Happily, we join ourselves to God, who loves us and wants the very best for us.
Leader: Go from this place as people of prayer who connect with God daily and pray without ceasing.
People: Praise be to God, our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Leader: Amen.
People: Amen.
After our service, Eddy Martin and her associate Sybil, from the Gideons International Auxiliary distributed medical new testaments to all our stakeholders who were interested. They also placed several Bibles in our lobbies and dining rooms.
A big thank you to everyone who made this National Day of Prayer event such a success!
Blessings,
Chaplain Derek