Reading
My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality.
1 John 18-19 (The Message)
Reflection
This weekend, I have the privilege of joining many of you to build beds with Sleep in Heavenly Peace for children in the Oklahoma City metro area who do not have a bed of their own. Because of our church’s extraordinary generosity, more than sixty children will soon have a warm bed to call their own.
Whether or not you can join us to build, you can participate through prayer. Pray for the hands preparing these beds, for the homes that will receive them, and especially for the children who will sleep in them. Each child is known to God by name, precious beyond measure, and worthy of comfort and belonging.
Prayer
Merciful God,
Unite us in your love,
and make us instruments of your peace.
Prepare the hearts and hands
of those who will build these beds.
Give them care in measuring,
patience in making,
and wisdom in every task,
that each bed may be sturdy and safe,
a warm and welcoming place for a child to rest.
With every board sanded,
every hole drilled,
and every piece fitted into place,
deepen our love for our neighbors,
including those we may never meet.
Keep us mindful that each child
who receives a bed
is known to you by name,
precious beyond measure,
and worthy of comfort and belonging.
Keep watch over those
who have no bed to call their own.
Draw near to those
who will fall asleep tonight
on floors, on couches,
or in crowded rooms.
Where the day has brought uncertainty,
may the night bring a measure of your peace.
May these beds become places
for stories and laughter,
for whispered prayers and sweet dreams,
for the rest of growing bodies.
As these beds hold your little ones,
may they know they are also held
in your steadfast love.
May Christ be beside them
in their sleeping and their waking,
and may your Spirit give them strength
for each new day.
Receive our work, though imperfect,
and multiply its goodness
beyond anything we can see or imagine.
Let our care extend beyond this day
and beyond this project,
until every child has a place to rest.
Through Jesus Christ,
who welcomed the little children
and calls the weary into his rest.
Amen.
