Prayer for Habitat for Humanity Wall-Raising

Today, Habitat volunteers, including several from the church I serve as pastor, participated in a special ceremony preceding the wall-raising for a new Habitat for Humanity. Our congregation, along with All Saints Lutheran Church in Mount Carmel and Saint Mark Lutheran Church in Milford, secured the funding from Thrivent Financial Services for Lutherans, constituting 65% of the costs. Volunteers from churches throughout the county are involved in additional fundraising and of course, construction of the home.

Ours is a relatively small congregation; but our experience demonstrates that God can do great things even with a small group of people. It's exciting!

Here's the prayer I did for today's ceremony:

Lord:
Today, we remember that Your Word tells us, “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builder builds in vain.”

This seems appropriate for us today in several ways.

First: Because we know that whether as it relates to funding, drafting, or construction, we can only do those things for which You have equipped us with the resources that You have given to us.

It also seems appropriate because we know that no couple can truly be a couple, no family can be a family, and no home is really home without Your empowerment.

As Habitat volunteers put up the walls on the Higginses new home, we pray for the safety of all who participate in the construction process. We pray too for Your wisdom and Your help so that everything gets accomplished in a timely way.

But more than that, we pray that You will help everyone involved to build their lives on the strong foundation of Your love and goodness, lavished on us all so freely and so tenaciously in the Person of Jesus Christ.

Bless the work of all who labor here and grant that we will treat this work for what it is: An opportunity to demonstrate to all the world the greatness of our awesome God of love.

May You alone be glorified!

In Jesus’ Name we pray.

Amen!