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A simple prayer for complex times 

By Rev. Floyd Thompkins

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Holy God,

You see the wounds in our bodies, our minds, and our spirits, and You see the brokenness in our communities and in our world.

We come to You together, seeking Your healing. Where there is sickness, bring strength. Where there is grief, bring comfort. Where there is anxiety, bring calm. Where there is conflict, bring Your reconciling love.

Heal the weariness that we hide from one another. Touch the places in us that have been scarred by injustice, fear, and loss. Restore our trust, renew our hope, and awaken our joy in You.

Let Your peace rest upon us like gentle evening light. Quiet our troubled hearts. Guard our thoughts from despair. Hold us steady when the ground beneath us feels uncertain.

Teach us to be people of healing in the world. Make our words gentle and truthful. Make our hands instruments of care and mercy. Make our communities shelters of safety, justice, and grace.

Spirit of God, breathe Your peace into every home, every relationship, Every congregation, every neighborhood, every nation.

May Your shalom—Your deep, whole peace—take root among us. We surrender our pain into Your loving care.

We surrender our fear into Your faithful arms. And together, we open ourselves to receive Your healing and Your peace.

Amen

About the Author


Rev. Floyd Thompkins

Rev. Floyd Thompkins is CEO of the Justice and Peace Foundation, Pastor of Saint Andrew Presbyterian Church and Chaplain for the United Christian Campus Ministry. He served as Vice – President of the Center for Innovation in Ministry at San Francisco Theological Seminary. SFTS subsequently became the University of Redlands Graduate School of Theology. As a Dean of Religious Life, Rev. Thompkins has served at two world-class institutions, Stanford University and Princeton University. As a Leader in the community, he has developed unique, highly effective programs to empower underserved teenage youth and young adults in urban and rural areas—in East Palo Alto, CA and rural South Georgia. As a Pastor, he pastored Antioch Baptist Church, the second oldest African American Church west of the Mississippi and Covenant Christian Church in Douglas, GA.

Awards and Honors

  • 2022 Distinguish Alumni Award for Bethany College in Lindsborg KS

  • 2016 Nominated for the Heart of Marin Award for Innovative Leadership

  • Presidential Award for Community Service from President Bill Clinton

  • Regional Service Award from the Northern California Kidney Foundation

  • Benjamin E. Mays Fellowship (3 years) from the Rockefeller Foundation

  • Awarded grant from the state of New Jersey to develop training for faculty of Princeton University

  • 1995 -1998 Selected by five times by Princeton’s Senior Class to be Speaker at the Alumni graduation event

  • Edward G. Howell Preaching Award from Princeton Theological Seminary

Publications, Awards, and Honors

2016 Nominated for the Heart of Marin Award for Innovative Leadership

Presidential Award for Community Service from President Bill Clinton

Regional Service Award from the Northern California Kidney Foundation

Benjamin E. Mays Fellowship (3 years) from the Rockefeller Foundation

Awarded grant from the state of New Jersey to develop training for faculty of Princeton University

1995 -1998 Selected by five times by Princeton’s Senior Class to be Speaker at the Alumni graduation event

Edward G. Howell Preaching Award from Princeton Theological Seminary

Publications

Aten, J. (2020, August 8). How to Support the Anxious and Bereaved During COVID-19: A two part interview with Rev. Floyd Thompkins on caring for those who are grieving. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/nz/blog/hope-resilience/202008/how- support-the-anxious-and-bereaved-during-covid-19?amp

Dolbee, S. (2020, July 5). Commentary: Is America Good?. The San Diego Union-Tribune, Retrieved from https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/lifestyle/story/2020-07-04/sandi- dolbee-column-for-july-5 

Thompkins, F., Goldblum, P, Lai, T, Hansel, T., Barclay, A., Brown, L. (2020, May 20). A Culturally Specific Mental Health and Spirituality Approach for African Americans Facing the COVID-19 Pandemic.
and Policy. 12

Thompkins, F. (2019, March 15). Say it Ain’t So: The Jussie Smollett arrest. KQED Perspectives. Retrieved from https://www.kqed.org/perspectives/201601138390/say-it-aint-so

Goldblum, P, Hoeflein, B.,; Adee, M., & Thompkins, F. (2019, March). [Review of the Book Sexual Identity and Faith: Helping Clients Achieve Congruence by Yarhouse, M. Templeton Press]. Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. Retrieved from https://www.apadivisions.org/division-44/resources/reviews/sexual-identity-faith

Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, (5), 455-456. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tra0000841

Thompkins, F. (2017, March 23). Surviving Song Abuse. Bread for the World Lenten Series. Retrieved from http://www.bread.org/blog/lent-devotions-surviving-song-abuse

Thompkins, F. & Bland, B. (2016). Every Church and Innovator. Church Health Reader. Retrieved from http://chreader.org/every-church-an-innovator/

Thompkins, F. (2016, March 23) The Arrangements Have Already Been Made. Bread for the World. Retrieved from http://www.bread.org/blog/lent-devotions-arrangements-have-been-made

Hotaling, K. & Thompkins, F. (2015-2016). The Prostart Way. Curriculum and Guide published by the National Restaurant Association for their national “Pro Start Program” Retrieved from https://chooserestaurants.org/NationalRestaurantAssociation/media/NRAEF/TheProStartWay-ServingUpSuccess-Spreads.pdf)

Hotaling, K. & Thompkins, F. (2015-2018). Creation of exercise and curriculum resources for
the Knowledge Sharing Site of the National Association of Restaurant Foundation’s Opportunity Youth Program. Retrieved from https://chooserestaurants.org/opportunity-youth

Thompkins, F. (2014). Think on These Things II: Worshipping, Wondering, and Walking [Kindle Edition]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

Thompkins, F. (2013). Think on These Things. [Kindle Edition]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

Thompkins, F. (2012). By the Pool of Bethesda, Part 2. Biblical Mediations on Long Term Illness and Terminal Diagnoses [Kindle Edition]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

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