Saturday, March 31, 2012

A Prayer for Saturday, March 31, 2012

Roles

What roles will we play during this Holy Week? When we read and hear the stories of Jesus’ last week on earth, with what characters in the drama will we identify?

O Lord,

Cause us to take the time to reflect.
Cause us to have the courage to be challenged.
Cause us to have the vulnerability to be hurt.
Cause us to have the trust to be faithful.
Cause us to have the desire to be drawn in.
Cause us to have the imagination to be present.

Amen.

Friday, March 30, 2012

A Prayer for Friday, March 30, 2012

Times

Sometimes we need to take it;
sometimes we need to do something about it.

Sometimes we need to work;
sometimes we need to play.

Sometimes we need to feast;
sometimes we need to fast.

Sometimes we need to speak;
sometimes we need to remain silent.

Sometimes we need to ponder;
sometimes we need to decide.

Sometimes we need to celebrate;
sometimes we need to mourn.

Sometimes we need to advance;
sometimes we need to retreat.

Sometimes we need to speak;
sometimes we need to listen.

Sometimes we need to agree;
sometimes we need to disagree.

Sometimes we need to laugh;
sometimes we need to cry.

All the time we need to trust;
all the time we need to share;
all the time we need to discern;
all the time we need to hope.

All the time we need to love.

O Lord, help us in all of our times.

Amen.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

A Prayer for Thursday, March 29, 2012

Prayer

O God,

The initial words of our prayers typically address you, which reminds us that (1) before we pray—indeed, before we are—you are, and (2) in our prayers we are in fact speaking and listening to you.

Help us to grow in prayer so that our prayers become celebrations of your wonder, acts of conversation with you, and affirmations of our trust in your purposes.

May we experience an ever-increasing maturation in our prayers to you that both contributes to and reflects an ever-increasing maturation in our trust in you.

Amen.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

A Prayer for Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Needs

O Lord,

Teach us the difference between wants and needs.

Thank you for meeting our needs.

Please use us to meet the needs of others.

Amen.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

A Prayer for Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Core

An interesting fact: the Earth’s core makes up less than 50% of its volume while Mercury’s core makes up around 80% of that planet’s volume.

An important question: how much of our life is made up of a still, calm, peaceful core in which we pray without ceasing, in which we constantly commune with God, and from which we experience and deal with the chaos of life?

O God, make us aware of that core within us.

O God, lead us to nurture that core that it might grow.

O God, grant that by the time our life on Earth is over, our core will be the vast majority of our spiritual volume.

Amen.

Monday, March 26, 2012

A Prayer for Monday, March 26, 2012

Constancy

Lord God,

This week many people, many situations, many problems, many distractions, and many decisions will seek and will in some cases demand our attention.

Because of the reality of our lives—and not despite it—help us to grow in the constancy of our awareness of you.

In the midst of the reality of our lives—and not outside of it—help us to grow in the constancy of our communion with you.

We know that you are always with us and that you are always speaking to us, listening to us, guiding us, challenging us, and helping us—whether or not we think about it.

Help us to think about your presence, though, so we can celebrate it and become more conscious of it.

Amen.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

A Prayer for Sunday, March 25, 2012

The Lord’s Day

Today we will worship God whose Son Jesus Christ taught us with his words and through his life that for him and for his followers, success means sacrifice, glory means death and gain means loss.

O God, as we praise you today for who Jesus is, what Jesus said and what Jesus did, empower us to go out and live our lives in ways that will accurately reflect his ways of success, gain, and glory.

Amen.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

A Prayer for Saturday, March 24, 2012

Influences

For all the people who have at various times in our lives helped to form us into the people we are today, we give you thanks, O God.

Amen.

Friday, March 23, 2012

A Prayer for Friday, March 23, 2012

Hate

There is so much hate in this old world, O God, that sometimes it feels pervasive.

Who knows what produces and drives hate, whether it is a generalized hate toward a group or a particularized hate toward an individual?

Depending on the person or the people or the situation, it could be

fear,
sickness,
upbringing,
vengefulness,
envy,
pride,
arrogance,
misunderstanding,
prejudice,

or any number of other things.

Perhaps—and sadly—the most vicious hate is sometimes expressed by people who think that they have a religious and even “Christian” motivation for their hate, for it may be that no one hates more thoroughly and more dangerously than those who believe their hate is sanctioned by God.

Please, God—let us never forget and let us never stop living in the light of the great truth that you are Love and that your Son our Savior loved perfectly and that we who are your worshipers and his followers can be, with the help of your Spirit, growing every day in our ability to love with your love.

Please, God—protect those who are hated both from those who hate them and from the life-draining response of hating their haters.

Please, God—through your Spirit and grace bring about more love and less hate; through your people’s cultivation and practice of your love bring about more love and less hate.

Pleases, God—fill us so much with your love that hate—and even its lazy cousin apathy—become impossible for us.

Amen.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

A Prayer for Thursday, March 22, 2012

Time

O God,

As best we can understand it, for you to be eternal means that you live outside of time—yet in your grace and love you have chosen to enter into time.

As is all too obvious to us, for us to be temporal means that we live inside of time—yet in your grace and love you have chosen to allow us to enter into eternity.

For now, though, we live with our sense of past, present, and future—of which we struggle to make sense.

Help us to assimilate our past appropriately—to practice repentance and not regret, to practice gratitude and not nostalgia, and to practice memory but not obsession.

Help us to anticipate our future appropriately—to practice hope and not escapism, to practice faith and not presumption, and to practice longing for home without homesickness.

Help us to embrace our present appropriately—to practice presence and not absence, to practice attention and not diversion, and to practice life and not death.

For the opportunity and the challenge to live in the creative tension of living the temporal life and the eternal life, we praise you, O God.

Amen.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

A Prayer for Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Growth

O God,

We confess that sometimes, even in our young or middle or advanced adulthood, we are driven by the lingering fears of childhood and insecurities of adolescence to respond to situations and to people in ways that are not helpful to them or to us because they do not promote maturity in our spirit and integrity in our relationships.

We acknowledge that in this life we will never be fully formed or fully mature or fully grown.

We affirm that in this this life we can every day become more fully formed and more fully mature and more fully grown.

So help us today to grow up a little bit more—to grow up a little bit more into who we are and to grow up a little bit more in Christ in whom we find our true completeness and our true humanity.

Amen.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

A Prayer for Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Repent

Sometimes, O God, we do things that we know are wrong and bad and, as painful as it is, we recognize our sin and implore you for the gifts of grace and faith that we might turn away from those things.

More difficult for us, O God, is to recognize those ways in which the good things we do and the good ways we live can become sinful and thus can become ways that put us in need of the gifts of grace and faith that we might turn away from those things.

Such ways become sinful when we

become impressed with our goodness
or
compare our goodness favorably with that of others
or
believe that our goodness earns us status with you
or
conclude that doing good equals being good
or
are so good that no one can stand to be around us.

Today, O God, call our attention to the sin of being bad and to the sin of being good—and give us grace and faith to repent, to turn around and go the other way.

Deliver us from the evil of evil.
Deliver us from the evil of goodness.

Amen.

Monday, March 19, 2012

A Prayer for Monday, March 19, 2012

Words

Of the many things with which this week will be filled, words are at or near the top of the list.

We will read them.
We will write them.
We will hear them.
We will say them.
We will be cursed with them.
We will be blessed by them.

We can curse with them.
We can bless with them.

Remind us, O Lord, that the quality, nature, and purpose of our words reveal the quality, nature, and purpose of our hearts.

May our words this week reveal hearts that are inclined toward blessing and not toward cursing, toward helping and not toward hurting, and toward love and not toward hate.

Amen.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

A Prayer for Sunday, March 18, 2012

The Lord's Day

O God,

On this day when we celebrate the resurrection of your Son and our Savior Jesus Christ, help us to worship you for your life-giving, life-affirming, life-restoring, and life-sustaining power.

Amen.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

A Prayer for Saturday, March 17, 2012

St. Patrick’s Day

On this St. Patrick’s Day, when we remember the man of whom legend holds that he drove all the snakes from Ireland, we thank you, O Lord, that in your design even the snakes, the buzzards, and the termites play a vital role.

Forgive us for our doubts about the mosquitoes and the gnats.

Amen.

Friday, March 16, 2012

A Prayer for Friday, March 16, 2012

Steps

Where will our steps take us today?

At times we will step back;
at times we will step around;
at times we will step over;
at times we will step to;
at times we will step in.

All through this day, Lord, may most of our steps be forward.

All through this day, Lord, may all of our steps be a purposeful and determined effort to follow you.

Amen.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

A Prayer for Thursday, March 15, 2012

The “I’ds” of March

“I’d help people more if I weren’t so over-committed.”
“I’d spend more time in prayer if I weren’t so busy.”
“I’d care more about the poor if I weren’t so occupied making a living.”
“I’d show more grace if people weren’t so irritating.”
“I’d take more chances if I weren’t so afraid.”
“I’d take better care of myself if I weren’t so tired.”
“I’d read more if I weren’t so involved in my favorite TV shows.”
“I’d observe the Sabbath if I weren’t so pressed for time.”
“I’d trust God more if I weren’t so worried.”

Cause us, O God, to beware the “I’ds” of March—and of every day of every other month, too.

Amen.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

A Prayer for Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Earth

O God,

As the earth orbits the sun, so may my life be oriented toward you;

as the earth is one tiny speck in a massive universe, so may my life be humbled in its smallness;

as the earth is vital in its particularity, so may my life be embraced for its importance; and

as the earth teems with many forms of life, so may my life develop it many lively possibilities.

Amen.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

A Prayer for Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Knowledge/Ignorance

O God,

It’s funny how we at the same time know more than we think we know and know less than we think we know.

Give us courage to live in light of our knowledge and humility to live in light of our ignorance.

And give us the wisdom to know the difference.

Amen.

Monday, March 12, 2012

A Prayer for Monday, March 12, 2012

Again

This week we will get our

first
or
second
or
third
or
fourth
or
fifth
or
the number is too high to count(th)

chance.

Mercy. Grace. Forgiveness. Redemption. Opportunity.

Such glorious words with such mysterious meaning.

Thank you, O Lord.

Amen.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

A Prayer for Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Lord’s Day

O God,

As we today celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may we be encouraged by the twin realities that in him we will one day be raised to new life and that in him we have on this day been raised to new life.

Amen.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

A Prayer for Saturday, March 10, 2012

Challenge

Give us faith, grace, and courage enough, O God, to meet our greatest challenge: to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow you.

Amen.

Friday, March 9, 2012

A Prayer for Friday, March 9, 2012

Simple Pleasures

For the simple pleasures in life—

--for the songs of the morning birds,
--for the aroma of freshly brewed coffee,
--for the nudging of a beloved pet,
--for the sunrise and the sunset,
--for the gentle rain,
--for the reading of a good book,
--for the conversation with a friend,
--for the sound of bat meeting ball,
--for the rising of flowers from their bulbs,
--for the blooming of bushes and trees,
--for the good memories of departed loved ones,
--for the touch of a loved one’s hand,
--for the time spent with and the time spent away,
--for the notes and words of a favorite song,
--for the colors of a rainbow and
--for the glass of cold water—

we thank you, dear Lord.

Amen.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

A Prayer for Thursday, March 8, 2012

Trust

Fill us with so much trust in you, O God, that whatever happens today,

be it

good or bad,
happy or sad,
affirming or challenging,
reassuring or troubling,
comforting or painful,
welcomed or resisted, or
understood or confusing,

we find ourselves resting in you.

Amen.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

A Prayer for Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Open

Open us up a little more today, O Lord,

to the beauty that is all around us,
to the possibilities that are within us,
to the meaning that is available to us, and
to the Spirit that is among us.

Amen.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

A Prayer for Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Decisions

We will make many decisions today, O God.

Give us the wisdom we need to make sound ones.
Give us the courage we need to make hard ones.
Give us the flexibility we need to make tentative ones.
Give us the perspective we need to make effective ones.
Give us the love we need to make selfless ones.
Give us the humility we need to make shared ones.

We will make many decisions today, O God.

Give us the grace to make good ones.

Amen.

Monday, March 5, 2012

A Prayer for Monday, March 5, 2012

Ahead

O God,

We have looked ahead and tried to plan our week as well as we can.

We have thought about what must be done, we have placed appointments and obligations on the calendar, and we have mentally noted what we look forward to and what we dread.

We give it all over to you, knowing that even with all of our planning, we do not know what this week will bring to us nor do we know who this week will bring to us.

Protect us from careless arrogance that causes us to think that we are in control; fill us with careful trust that causes us to know that this week—indeed, that all of time—is in your hands.

Amen.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

A Prayer for Sunday, March 4, 2012

The Lord’s Day

In our worship of you today, O God, let us be reminded that your Son said that he “must undergo great suffering, and be rejected…, and be killed, and after three days rise again,” and that he then said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me”; in being reminded, cause us to be challenged, inspired, and empowered.

Amen.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

A Prayer for Saturday, March 3, 2012

Un-

So many blessings go unrealized, unnoticed, unacknowledged, and unappreciated.

Make us more alert and aware, O God.

And thank you…

Amen.

Friday, March 2, 2012

A Prayer for Friday, March 2, 2012

Gift

For the gift of this new day we give you thanks, O God.

What will we do with it?

Will we leave it wrapped, grateful for its beauty but unwilling to put its contents to use?

Will we unwrap it partially, pleased to see what we see but failing to enjoy and to employ it as it could be enjoyed and employed in its fullness?

Or

will we tear into it, squeal with delight, sigh with contentment, and stare in wonder at a gift so graciously given, so undeservedly received, and so joyfully embraced? Will we play with it, treasure it, and use it so that it will enhance our life, others’ lives, and your pleasure as it is meant to do?

For the gift of this day we give you thanks, O God.

Help us to use it in the ways that you intend as you in your great love give it to us.

Amen.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

A Prayer for Thursday, March 1, 2012

Spills

O God,

Fill us up so much today with

your grace,
your love,
your mercy,
your forgiveness,
your patience,
your peace,
your faith,
your joy, and
your loyalty

that it all spills out of us and onto others.

Amen.