For Rain and for Patience

Lord Almighty, you hear the cries of the unpaid and the prayers of the ordinary. You heard Elijah, who was a man like us, and you closed and opened the heavens at his asking. We come to you at the end of this week in James with our own list. Some of us are in trouble. Some of us are sick. Some of us are happy and forget to sing. Some of us are carrying sin we have told no one. We bring all of it, as you told us to.

Make us patient like the farmer. We have sown what we could, and we cannot make it rain. Help us to wait without giving up and without grumbling against each other. Establish our hearts, because the coming of the Lord is near. And make us a praying people, confessing to one another, calling the elders, laying hands on the sick, believing that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective because you are the one who makes it so. We ask for the rain we need, and we trust you with the season. Amen.