Tuesday, April 30, 2013

A Prayer for Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Thirty-First Day of Easter

O God,

Help us to know that the way to resurrection leads through crucifixion and that the way to gaining life leads through giving our life away.

Help us to embrace the marvelous, mysterious paradox that is exemplified for us and made possible in us because of the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Monday, April 29, 2013

A Prayer for Monday, April 29, 2013

Thirtieth Day of Easter

O God,

Cause us to remember that because our life in you is eternal, we need to draw nourishment and sustenance from that which is eternal.

So lead us to pray without ceasing and to commune constantly with your Spirit that we might be energized to live the eternal life that is ours to live even while we are living this temporal life.

Amen.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

A Prayer for Sunday, April 28, 2013

Fifth Sunday of Easter

O God,

May our one aim today be to worship you for your great grace and love as seen most fully in the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Then, may our one aim this week be to bear witness to your great grace and love by living lives in which it will be evident that we have died with Christ and have been raised to new life in him.

Amen.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

A Prayer for Saturday, April 27, 2013

Twenty-Eighth Day of Easter

Sometimes, Lord, we let the ugly in the world crowd the beautiful from our view. Help us always to see the beauty in—

--a new day dawning,
--the sun shining,
--pets playing,
--a baby stretching,
--birds singing,
--crickets chirping,
--children playing,
--friends talking,
--music playing,
--people laughing, and
--families celebrating.

At the same time, Lord, don’t let us pretend that the beautiful is all there is. Help us to do what we can to bring your beauty to bear on situations that create ugliness, especially those situations that generate hate, prejudice, hunger, war, poverty, and meaninglessness.

Amen.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

A Prayer for Thursday, April 25, 2013

Twenty-Sixth Day of Easter

O God,

Grant that we will be right here and right now as fully aware as we can be of the eternal life that is ours right here and right now in Jesus Christ our Lord.

While we are pulled forward by the future we have in you, let our hope inspire us to live fully and freely in the present.

Help us to live as those who are fully alive.

Amen.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

A Prayer for Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Twenty-Fifth Day of Easter

O God,

Twenty-five days after Easter Sunday the followers of Jesus were twenty-five days away from Pentecost; they were half way between the experience of new life through the resurrected Christ and the experience of the fulfillment of the promise of the Holy Spirit.

What are we living between? What does it mean for us to have experienced what we have experienced and yet to be awaiting what is still to come?

Are we aware of the new life we have in Christ? Are we living in light of that new life?

Are we looking forward to whatever else you have for us? Are we living in satisfaction or in anticipation?

Show us how we are we living in between, in the midst, in the middle.

Open our lives to what is; open our eyes to what will be.

Amen.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

A Prayer for Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Twenty-Fourth Day of Easter

Show us, O God, how the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ empower us to live fully in the present.

Enable us not to live in guilt over the past because in Christ our sins are forgiven.

Enable us not to live in fear over the future because in Christ our lives are secure.

Empower us to live fully in the present because we are in fact fully alive right here and right now; empower us to live in the reality of the presence of the resurrected Christ in our life, a presence that fills us with your love.

Amen.


Monday, April 22, 2013

A Prayer for Monday, April 22, 2013

Twenty-Third Day of Easter

We praise you, O God, that in the resurrection of Jesus Christ the eternal invaded the temporal and that in our being raised in him to walk in newness of life the eternal continues to invade the temporal.

Help us to make the most of the time, O God, for the opportunity to live a time-bound life while we are at the same time unbound by time and to live a death-haunted life while we are at the same time unhaunted by death is a challenging blessing.

Give us grace to live these lives for all they are worth, knowing that they are worth so much more because of the resurrection.

Amen.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

A Prayer for Sunday, April 21, 2013

Fourth Sunday of Easter

O God,

Let today be a day when we become as aware as possible of that intersection where your life meets our life, a reality created by our participation by grace through faith and through baptism in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.

May we worship you as those who have been buried with him and who have been raised to walk in newness of life in him.

Amen.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

A Prayer for Saturday, April 20, 2013

Twenty-First Day of Easter

O God,

We thank you for this time of year when some blooms are just arriving, others are going away, and still others are in their full glory.

Let it remind us of the way it is for the people in our lives.

Let it remind us of the way it is for the various aspects of our own lives.

Help us to welcome those whom and that which we should welcome, to let go of those whom and that which we should let go, and to embrace fully those whom and that which we should embrace.

Amen.

Friday, April 19, 2013

A Prayer for Friday, April 19, 2013

Twentieth Day of Easter

O God,

Help us to know and to remember that to be raised with Christ is to be living an eternal life; help us to know and to remember that to be raised with Christ is to be living outside of time even as we live in time; help us to know and to remember that to be raised with Christ is to be living a life in the world that is in constant touch with heaven.

Help us to know and to remember that we have been raised with Christ and that it makes all the difference in the ways that we live our lives.

Amen.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

A Prayer for Thursday, April 18, 2013

Nineteenth Day of Easter

O God,

Since we have been raised with Christ, since we walk in newness in life, and since the life of the resurrected Christ is in us, grant that we will think, talk, and act in ways that reflect and promote life.

Give us a perspective that is filled with hope rather than despair.

Give us words that encourage rather than discourage.

Give us actions that build up rather than tear down.

Since we have been raised with Christ, since we walk in newness in life, and since the life of the resurrected Christ is in us, grant that we will think, talk, and act in ways that reflect and promote life.

Amen.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

A Prayer for Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Eighteenth Day of Easter

Make us fully alive today, O God; empower us to walk in the newness of life that is ours because of our participation in the resurrection of Jesus.

Make us fully alive today, O God; keep us in touch with your Spirit that we might be guided by your grace and truth.

Make us fully alive today, O God; keep us in touch with our spirit that we might understand what motivates us and what limits us.

Make us fully alive today, O God; keep us in touch with the people around us that we might be open and vulnerable with them and willing to touch them and to be touched by them.

Make us fully alive today, O God …

Amen.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

A Prayer for Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Seventeenth Day of Easter/Day after the Boston Marathon Bombing

O God,

Here in the midst of our celebration of life and love, death and hate have reasserted their continuing influence. We are reminded by yesterday’s attack on the people gathered for the Boston Marathon of just how desperately people need your life and your love.

Those whose loved ones were killed need your life and love.
Those who were injured need your life and love.
Those who responded and who are still responding need your life and love.
Those who are trying to find out who did this terrible thing need your life and love.
The one or ones who did this terrible thing need your life and love.
All of us who are citizens of this nation and of this world need your life and love.

Help us to remember that such acts are the last desperate efforts of evil’s defeated and doomed regime. Help us never to forget that in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ love and grace have won and will win. Give us trust that we might not be afraid to live life fully and boldly; give us love that we might be human enough to be vulnerable with each other; give us hope that we might keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Help us not to waste precious time and energy wondering and asking why such things happen; help us not to use our time and energy to curse the dark but to use them, since only light can dispel darkness, to light whatever candles we can light. Empower us to live so fully in your life and love that we naturally and habitually share them with other people.

Bless the people of Boston and all those affected by this tragedy with your strength as they rely on each other for help and support. Bless us right where we are that we might help each other in the hurts, betrayals, and tragedies that we and our neighbors are facing or will face. Cause us to be proactive in our love that we might thereby possibly prevent some tragedies as well as be ready for those that do come; when they do come, help us to be reactive in our compassion and assistance.

Sometimes we have no choice but to confront the beast; help us to do so in ways that will not cause us to become the beast. Show us how to overcome evil with good.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Monday, April 15, 2013

A Prayer for Monday, April 15, 2013

Sixteenth Day of Easter

Thank you, O God, for the hope that is ours because of the resurrection of Jesus.

Thank you for the hope of our own future resurrection and of everlasting life.

Thank you also for the hope with which this day is filled, hope that springs from the fact that we have been raised with Christ and that we are walking in newness of life.

Help us to live in that hope in every situation that we encounter and with every person with whom we interact today.

Amen.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

A Prayer for Sunday, April 14, 2013

Third Sunday of Easter

O God,

As we praise you today for your great saving acts through your Son Jesus Christ, we cannot help but be mindful of how far short we still fall of true faithfulness in our following of him.

Remind us today that while our sin is great, your grace is far greater.

Remind us today that while we often fall down, you always pick us back up.

Remind us that that while we still get wounded, it is through our wounds that you empower us to help other wounded people.

Remind us of these truths today as we praise you for what you are still doing through your Son Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

A Prayer for Saturday, April 13, 2013

Fourteenth Day of Easter

“And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent,” said Jesus (John 17:3).

Thank you, God, that because of your Son Jesus Christ we have the opportunity to get to know you as you are, and in knowing you to find real and enduring life.

Amen.

Friday, April 12, 2013

A Prayer for Friday, April 12, 2013

Thirteenth Day of Easter

Keep us aware, O Lord, of all the ways that you are present with us—

--in the Spirit,
--in the people of the Church,
--in the people of the world,
--in the Eucharist,
--in worship,
--in prayer, and

--in other ways, both expected and unexpected, comforting and challenging, calming and upsetting, and familiar and surprising.

Keep us aware, O Lord, of all the ways that you are present with us.

Amen.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

A Prayer for Thursday, April 11, 2013

Twelfth Day of Easter

What does it mean, O God, for Christ to live in us? What does it mean for the crucified and resurrected Lord to live in us?

It seems like it should make quite a difference—probably much more of a difference that it is actually making. Or maybe we are not aware enough of the difference that it is making; maybe things are happening to which we are not sensitive and which we choose, for whatever reasons, to ignore.

But God, whether the difference is not being made or whether we are ignoring it—what a shame! What a missed opportunity! What a refused blessing!

So whatever it means for Christ to live in us, O God, please cause us to experience it, to be aware of it, and to live it.

Amen.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

A Prayer for Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Eleventh Day of Easter

O God,

Make us so aware of your grace, love, and peace that we perpetually rest in you.

At the same time, make us so aware of your grace, love, and peace that we consistently serve you by serving others.

Thank you that we can simultaneously rest in you and serve you; make us aware of that reality in our lives and let our lives reflect that reality.

Amen.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

A Prayer for Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Tenth Day of Easter

O God,

Sometimes we wonder what it would be like to see the resurrected Christ; we wonder what it would be like to see Jesus right here and right now.

Remind us that Jesus himself said that whenever we help someone in need we are in fact helping him.

Help us to remember that if we want to see Jesus today, we had best look at those who could use some help. And lead us then to help them …

Amen.

Monday, April 8, 2013

A Prayer for Monday, April 8, 2013

Ninth Day of Easter

O God,

We thank you that one of the ways that the disciples knew that the resurrected Jesus was in fact Jesus was by the still visible wounds in his hands and side.

Help us to remember that living in the power of the resurrection and walking in newness of life does not mean that we will not receive and bear wounds; help us to remember that in fact faithfulness to Christ that shows itself through love, mercy, grace, peace, and forgiveness will likely invite wounds into our lives.

Cause us to be willing to bear those wounds for the sake of Christ and for the sake of others.

Amen.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

A Prayer for Sunday, April 7, 2013

Second Sunday of Easter

O God,

Cause us today to realize how our life flows from you and how the resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ allows new life, abundant life, and eternal life to flow into us and out to other people.

May our worship today reflect our heart-felt praise of you, the One who gives us life.

Amen.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

A Prayer for Saturday, April 6, 2013

A Prayer for Saturday, April 6, 2013

Seventh Day of Easter

O God,

Forgive us for the times we forget that we are alive in the resurrected Christ, that we are full of your grace, and that we are empowered by your Spirit.

We do praise you for those great realities and we do not want to take them for granted or to fail to live in full awareness of them.

So increase our sensitivity to you and our awareness of our life in you that we may live fully these good lives that you have given us to live.

Amen.

Friday, April 5, 2013

A Prayer for Friday, April 5, 2013

Sixth Day of Easter

O God,

Enliven in us today the realities of love; awaken us to the fact of the presence of your great love, your self-sacrificing love that we see in the cross of Jesus Christ, and to the fact that your love causes us to give ourselves away so that others may know your love.

Enliven in us today the possibilities of love; awaken us to the ways in which we can love more people and in which we can love in greater and different ways the people whom we already love.

Keep us always aware that your love is in us; keep us always aware that the possibilities created by your love in us are infinite.

Amen.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

A Prayer for Thursday, April 4, 2013

Fifth Day of Easter

O God,

We learn in your Book that after your Son Jesus rose from the dead, the wounds he had received in life were still visible.

Even though we are walking in newness of life and even though we have been raised with Christ, we are still living in these bodies in this world and experiencing these relationships—all of which means that we can and will still receive wounds.

Help us to remember what our brother Paul said when he talked about looking forward to being raised with Christ—provided that he shared in Christ’s suffering.

Give us wisdom not to seek woundedness but, when it comes to us in the course of our loving you and loving others, to accept and even embrace it.

Amen.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

A Prayer for Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Fourth Day of Easter

O God,

Through the power of the resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ, bring new life to our motives, to our desires, to our thoughts, and to our emotions.

Bring new life to who we really are; cause us to walk in newness of life down in the core of our being.

Let your life so fuel our life within that we will constantly be motivated by your Spirit, your love, and your grace.

Amen.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

A Prayer for Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Third Day of Easter

O God,

What does it mean for us to walk in newness of life? What does it mean for us to live as people who have died with Christ and who have been raised with him? What does it mean for us to live in light of the resurrection?

Show us how to live as people who are participating in the great thing that you have done, are doing, and will do through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and in the lives of ordinary people who are living in the midst of your extraordinary reality.

Amen.

Monday, April 1, 2013

A Prayer for Monday, April 1, 2013

Easter Monday/Second Day of Easter

O God,

Show us what it means to live in the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ; show us what it means to have died with Christ and to have been raised to new life in him.

Cause us to walk in newness of life; give us eyes to see, ears to hear, spirits to sense, hearts to feel, feet to go, and hands to do.

Let our constant desire be to live your life in the world; let our constant awareness be that we are doing so.

Amen.