A Prayer for Friday, July 31, 2015

Signs (Part Two)

O God,

As we travel down the road,
remind us to pay attention to the signs.

Help us pay attention to the “Yield” signs
that we encounter along the way.

Sometimes we need to
let someone go ahead of us.

We always need to let you go ahead
of us so that we can follow you.

If we become impatient and try
to get out in front of you, we’re
going to impede the flow of things.

We may even cause a pile-up.

We often need to let
someone else go ahead of us.

Sometimes we need to
let someone else lead.

Sometimes we need to
put someone else’s
needs ahead of ours.

Sometimes we just need to
stay out of the way.

To yield requires that we slow
down and look to see who’s coming,

that we use sound judgment
as to whether to stay or go, and

that we understand that
it’s not always our turn.

Give us wisdom and grace to
yield when we need to yield …

Amen.

A Prayer for Thursday, July 30, 2015

Signs (Part One)

O God,

As we travel down the road, remind
us to pay attention to the signs.

Remind us to observe the speed limit signs
because they provide important rhythm to life.

Sometimes we need to speed up;
sometimes we need to slow down.

If we go too slow when we should go fast or
if we go too fast when we should go slow,

we impede progress,
we complicate the situation, and
we put ourselves and others in danger.

Help us to know when we need
to speed up lest we miss an important
opportunity down the road.

Help us to know when we need
to slow down lest we miss an important
opportunity right over there ...

Amen.

A Prayer for Wednesday, July 29, 2015

With

O God,

Thank you for always being with me.

Thank you that you are always here

to challenge me,
to confront me,
to comfort me,
to guide me,
to convict me, and
to embrace me.

Help me always to be with you.

Make me so conscious of your
presence that I can’t help but
respond with my love and devotion.

Help me to be as committed
to being with you as
you are to being with me.

Thank you for always being with me.
Help me always to be with you.

Amen.

A Prayer for Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Willy-Nilly

O God,

We do much of our living willy-nilly;
we do it haphazardly and without planning.

As a result, we’re often all over the place.

On the one hand, we need
more focus and direction.

Help us to grow in our
understanding of what it means

to serve you,
to follow Jesus, and
to be led by the Spirit.

Help us to grow in
our commitment and
ability to love you with
everything we are and to
love our neighbors as
we love ourselves.

Help us to grow
in intentionality,
in purpose, and
in focus.

On the other hand, we wouldn’t
want to live without spontaneity.

So insofar as it is appropriate and
healthy, help us to live our lives
willy-nilly; let us know the fun
and joy of taking life as it comes.

So give us focus and direction,
except when we can do without it …

Amen.

A Prayer for Monday, July 27, 2015

Middle

O God,

Here at the beginning of the week,
I find myself in the middle of things.

I am in the middle

of things that I started working on last week,
of things that I started working on last year, and
of things that I’ve been working on all my life.

Help me to

finish what needs to be finished,
to continue what needs to be continued, and
to accept what I will always need to work on.

Forgive me for my procrastination,
thank you for my successful completions, and
help me to endure in my ongoing projects.

Make me especially faithful in working
on the unfinished project that is

my own spirit …

Amen.

A Prayer for Sunday, July 26, 2015

The Lord’s Day

O God,

Thank you for the privilege
of worshiping you today.

Thank you for all of your people who
will worship you today all over this world.

Your people will worship you in many ways.

Some of those ways are rooted in long-standing tradition
while others are of more recent development.

Some of those ways are formal and orderly
while others are informal and spontaneous.

Some of those ways are calm
while others are boisterous.

Some of those ways are quiet
while others are loud.

Whatever our style of worship,
let our hearts offer joyful, grateful,
and insightful praise to you.

Amen.

A Prayer for Saturday, July 25, 2015

My

O God,

On the one hand, I am so grateful for what belongs to me.

Some of it is important; some of it has become such a meaningful part of my life that it is pretty much an extension of me. For those things I am especially grateful.

Some of it is junk and I can take it or leave it. Help me always to know the difference.

On the other hand, I hope that I will never come to overvalue my possessions.

I hope that I will never forget that they are all on loan to me and that the day will come when I have to turn them all back in.

Help me to express my gratitude for my stuff in my willingness to share …

Amen.

A Prayer for Friday, July 24, 2015

Me

O God,

It’s all about me.

I don’t mean for it to be;
I don’t even want it to be.

But from my perspective,
things happen to me.

I evaluate events in terms
of how they affect me.
I respond to people according
to how they treat me.

Whatever I experience,
whatever I encounter,
whatever I endure,

I do it as me.

So the only thing I know to do
is to ask you to work on me.

Form me, make me, and shape
me into someone who loves,
who cares, and who gives.

Help me to grow into someone
who serves and sacrifices with
less and less thought of myself.

I know I’ll always be me.
I know I’ll never stop caring about me.
I know I’ll always want what’s best for me.

So let me see and live my
life the way that Jesus
shows me is the best way;
let me be someone who lives
for you and for others.

In the long run, that’s the
best way for me to be me . . .

Amen.

A Prayer for Thursday, July 23, 2015

I

O God,

I am the subject of
all of my actions.

I think what I think,
I say what I say,
I ask what I ask,
I decide what I decide,
I try what I try,
I do what I do,
I make what I make,
I break what I break,
I fix what I fix,
I fail when I fail,
I succeed when I succeed,
I lose when I lose,
I win when I win, and
I go where I go.

I am the subject of
all of my actions;
therefore, I am
responsible for
all of them.

Let me always remember
that my actions affect me
and many other people.

Help me always to consider,
to prepare, and to pray
before I do anything.

Remind me always to take
responsibility for my actions
and for their consequences.

I am who I am;
help me to be the
best version of
myself that I can be.

Amen.

A Prayer for Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Grace

O God,

Thank you for the word
above all words
that names the reality
above all realities.

Thank you for grace.

Thank you for the amazing
grace that you show us.

Thank you for your amazing
character out of which you
love us just as we are and
offer yourself to us with
no strings attached.

Thank you also for the grace
that some people show us.

Thank you for the grace
that causes them

to love us,
to accept us,
to embrace us,
to forgive us, and
to help us.

Let us be appropriately
grateful for everything that
you have done for us.

Let us be appropriately
grateful for everything that
other people have done for us, too.

Help us to grow in grace so that
we will be the kind of people
for whom others will be grateful …

Amen.

A Prayer for Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Never

O God,

We’re encouraged to
say, “Never say never.”

But based on the ways in which
I have experienced you, I must.

I must say that you
never forsake me.

I must say that your
love never fails me.

I must say that your
grace never rejects me.

So my experience with
you has taught me that
sometimes I must say “Never.”

Help me never to stop
doing all I can to keep
myself aware of

your presence,
your love, and
your grace.

Help me never to stop
doing all I can to bear
witness to you by sharing

my presence,
my love, and
my grace—

all of which are gifts from you—
with everyone I encounter.

Amen.

A Prayer for Monday, July 20, 2015

Next

O God,

Thank you for whatever is next.

Help us to prepare as best we
can for what we can anticipate;

help us to be open as much as we
can to what we can’t anticipate.

Empty us of fear and anxiety
about what is next;

then fill the place they filled in
us with wonder, with excitement,
with trust, and with hope.

Amen.

A Prayer for Sunday, July 19, 2015

The Lord’s Day

O God,

Thank you that we are
ahead of our time.

Thank you that we are
living the resurrected life
while we are living this life.

Let it show.

Let it show

in our attitudes,
in our perspectives,
in our words, and
in our actions.

Let it show

in our faith,
in our hope,
in our grace,
in our mercy, and
in our love.

Let it show

in our lack of fear,
in our absence of despair, and
in our scarcity of surrender.

Thank you that we are
ahead of our time.

Thank you that we are
living the resurrected life.

Thank you that we are
becoming more alive.

Let it show.
Let it show.
Let it show …

Amen.

A Prayer for Saturday, July 18, 2015

Pause

O God,

Remind us to pause occasionally.

Remind us to pause

to remember that we’re alive,
to notice our breathing,
to embrace family,
to enjoy friends,
to ponder possibilities,
to consider options,
to talk to a child,
to pet a dog,
to look at the night sky,
to eat ice cream,
to watch ants,
to write in the dirt,
to hear birds sing,
to listen to our spirit, and
to sense your presence.

Amen.

A Prayer for Friday, July 17, 2015

Closure

O God,

Thank you for closure.

Thank you for the closing
of a chapter in the story.

Thank you also that a chapter
is never completely closed.

Thank you that we can revisit it
in our memories and in our dreams;
thank you that we might even be
able to return to its setting to see
how things are going for the
people who are still living there.

Thank you for the privilege of
having shared life with them
for a while; thank you that our
spirits will always be intertwined.

Thank you for a new chapter.

Thank you for how all that
has gone before prepares us
for what is yet to come.

Thank you for closure
that is not quite closure.

Thank you for moving on
and for looking back.

Thank you for completeness
and for incompleteness.

Thank you for “That’s that” and
for “Wait, there’s more …”

Amen.

A Prayer for Thursday, July 16, 2015

Pluto and Pentaquarks

O God,

They taught me at Gordon Grammar School that Pluto was the ninth and last planet in our solar system. Then the experts demoted it to a “dwarf planet.”

Now we know that, no matter what we call it, it’s another amazing part of your amazing creation.

Thank you for the New Horizons spacecraft. Thank you for the scientists who designed it and built it. Thank for you for the scientists who planned and executed its mission. Thank you for its safe ten-year journey through space. Thank you for the pictures and other information it is sending back. Thank you that it is moving on beyond Pluto. Thank you for what it is yet to teach us.

They also taught me at Gordon Grammar School that atoms are the basic building blocks of matter and that every atom has a nucleus made up of protons and neutrons, with electrons outside the nucleus.

Then, physicists discovered that smaller units that they called “quarks” make up the protons and neutrons. And now, thanks to experiments done at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland, scientists have tentatively confirmed the existence of pentaquarks, which are comprised of four quarks and one anti-quark and which will help us to understand better how matter is constituted.

Thank you for the scientists who have done and who are doing such important work.

Thank you for science.

So, whether we look farther out or farther in, we keep being amazed by the intricacies of physical reality.

And we keep being amazed by you …

Amen.

A Prayer for Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Deals

O God,

We make deals.

Governments make deals, companies make deals, sports teams make deals, and individuals make deals.

In the making of deals we give and we get, we hold firm and we give in, and we talk and we listen.

Our goal is to get the best deal that we can; we want to gain as much as we can and to give up as little as we can.

Help us to be ethical, fair, honest, and above board in the deals that we make. Help us to do all that we can to profit fairly from our deals, but help us also to do everything that we can to ensure that those with whom we deal also profit fairly.

And don’t let us think that we can strike a deal with you. Keep us ever aware that when it comes to our dealings with you, there’s no bargaining to be done; we either trust in your great grace or we don’t.

Come to think of it, it’s a pretty one-sided deal in our favor.

Give us faith enough to take it …

Amen.

A Prayer for Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Blink

O God,

Everything can change
in the blink of an eye.

Let that knowledge be for us
an impetus for faith and
not a source of fear;

let it teach us just how much
we need to rely on you.

Help us to stay so
aware of your presence and so
mindful of our need that

every blink of our eyes
is a prayer …

Amen.

A Prayer for Monday, July 13, 2015

Encourage

O God,

This week I will encounter people who are discouraged.

Some of them may be teetering on the brink of hopelessness. Some on them may have already fallen into it.

Most of them will hide their discouragement well. Some may dare to express or display it.

Give me discernment to perceive that someone is discouraged or hopeless.

Give me words to share and actions to perform that might offer them some encouragement.

Then give me the desire, the willingness, the compassion, and the courage to share those words and actions.

And Lord, when I become discouraged, please send someone to encourage me.

Amen.

A Prayer for Sunday, July 12, 2015

The Lord’s Day

O God,

It is the first day of the week.
It is the Lord’s Day.
It is Resurrection Day.

Let this day set the tone
for all our other days.

Let us live every day in ways

that put first things first,
that recognize that Christ is Lord, and

that demonstrate the fact that
we have been raised to new life and
will be raised to everlasting life.

Amen.

A Prayer for Saturday, July 11, 2015

Tired

O God,

Thank you for the tiredness that
comes from doing something that
we want to do because it is part of

something necessary,
something meaningful, and
something important.

Thank for the rest that is
the reward for such work and that is
the remedy for such tiredness.

Continue to give us opportunities
to do such work and to enjoy such rest.

Amen.

A Prayer for Friday, July 10, 2015

So

O God,

Keep me aware of how the principle
of cause and effect works in my life.

I am hungry, so I eat.
I am thirsty, so I drink.
I am tired, so I sleep.
I am sad, so I cry.
I am happy, so I laugh.
I am pleased, so I smile.
I am displeased, so I frown.
I am responsible, so I work.
I am needed, so I help.
I am needy, so I accept help.

Keep me especially aware of how the principle
of cause and effect works in how I live out my faith.

Help me always to be thinking about
how I am, in the ways that I think, talk,
and act, finishing this sentence:

I am a follower of Jesus Christ, so I . . .

Amen.

A Prayer for Thursday, July 9, 2015

God (Part 2)

O God,

Thank you for your great grace in which you make yourself known to us.

Even as we ask for humility and caution in the ways that we think about, talk about, and bear witness to you, we praise you for coming to us and being with us.

We praise you for making yourself known in creation. We see your beauty and power reflected in its beauty and power. We can learn about creation, but there is always more to learn—and so it is with you. We can approach it with humility or with arrogance, with a mind toward working with it or trying to manipulate it—the same choices we have with you. Help us to make the right choices in our approach to you.

We praise you for making yourself known in Scripture. Thank you for those who experienced the events, who remembered the events, who interpreted the events, and who wrote, edited, and preserved the ongoing interaction and conversation between you and your people. Thank you for how the Scriptures point us to Christ. Help us to let them guide us to and in our own encounters and interactions with you.

We praise you for making yourself known in your Son Jesus Christ. Thank you that he was the Word made flesh who dwelled among us, full of grace and truth. Thank you that he is the apex of your self-revelation. Thank you that in following him we come to know you. Help us to live faithfully as followers of Jesus Christ that we might grow in our knowledge of who you are and of who we are becoming.

We praise you for making yourself known in the Holy Spirit. Thank you that you are present with us and in us through your Spirit. Thank you that where the Spirit is, there the Son and Father are as well. Thank you that we can thus know you personally, intimately, and fully. Help us stay in constant communion with you even as you are, as Holy Trinity, constantly in fellowship within yourself.

Thank you for your great grace in which you make yourself known to us.

Help us to stay constantly aware of your presence.

Amen.

A Prayer for Wednesday, July 8, 2015

God (Part One)

O God,

Forgive us for the ways in which we do wrongly by you.

Forgive us for the ways in which we think wrongly of you.
Forgive us for thinking that we know enough about you.
Forgive us for thinking that we have you and your ways figured out.

Forgive us for the ways in which we speak wrongly of you.
Forgive us for talking about you in ways that fail to honor you.
Forgive us for speaking as if our mere words could ever describe you.

Forgive us for the ways in which we speak wrongly for you.
Forgive us for presuming to tell others what your will is for them.
Forgive us for making pronouncements as if we can know how you regard the whole world.

Forgive us for the ways in which we speak wrongly to you.
Forgive us for our arrogance that leads us to think that you need us to tell you what needs to be done.
Forgive us for our presumption in speaking to you with no sense of our sin and of your holiness.

Forgive us for the ways in which we bear witness wrongly to you.
Forgive us for living in ways that fail to reflect your love, grace, and mercy.
Forgive us for treating people in ways that fail to show them how you want them to be treated.

O God,

Forgive us for the ways we do wrongly by you …

Amen.

A Prayer for Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Think

O God,

Help us to think.

Help us to think in ways
that are honest, helpful,
creative, and constructive.

Help us

to think before we speak,
to think before we act,
to think about consequences,
to think short-term and long-term,
to think locally and globally,
to think about ways to make things better,
to think more of others than we do of ourselves,
and
to think of you all the time.

Thank you for giving us brains
with which we can think.

Help us to put them to good use . . .

Amen.

A Prayer for Monday, July 6, 2015

Please

O God,

Please

let the motivations
behind all that we do be

to please you

and not

to please others

or

to please ourselves.

Amen.

A Prayer for Sunday, July 5, 2015

The Lord’s Day

O God,

Help us to worship you today with our eyes fixed on your Son Jesus, because in him you most clearly show us who you are and so our best chance to know you is to know him.

As we focus on Jesus in our worship, help us to understand better what it means for us to serve a God whose Son willingly died on a cross in obedience to your will and in service to people.

Remind us through Jesus that giving is gain, that sacrifice is service, that humility is honor, and that weakness is strength.

Then give us by your grace and by your Spirit the willingness and the ability to follow Jesus every day of our lives.

Amen.

A Prayer for Saturday, July 4, 2015

Freedom

O God,

Thank you for the privilege
of living in a free country.

Thank you that as Christians,
even if we were living in a
country that was not free,

we still would be free.

Help us to put the freedoms
we have as Americans

to appropriate use;

help us to put the particular freedoms
we have as Christian Americans

to particularly appropriate use.

Help us to think of ourselves as
Christians who are Americans rather
than as Americans who are Christians;

help us to regard ourselves as
Christian Americans rather
than as American Christians.

Help us to exercise our freedoms

in ways that are inspired and
guided by the love that is
ours in Christ our Lord,

in ways that show that we have
the mind of Christ, who willingly
gave himself up for others,

and in ways that show that
we care more about others
than we care about ourselves.

As Americans, we want our rights.
As Americans, we should want
everyone else to have their rights.

As Christians, we love others
more than we love ourselves
and we are willing to give ourselves
up for the sake of others.

As Christian Americans, we must
want everybody to have every
opportunity to experience life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Thank you, O God, that
in Christ we are free.

Help us to use our
freedom to practice love.

Keep us from using our
freedom to practice
anything less than love.

Amen.

A Prayer for Friday, July 3, 2015

Stand

O God,

We need to take a stand.

We need to have convictions
and commitments in which we
believe so much that we are
willing to defend them
and even to die for them.

Help us, though, to take our
stand where it should be taken.

Help us to take it on and
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Help us to take it in the kind
of love that he displayed—
a love that is so committed

to sharing,
to giving, and
to sacrificing

that it will die even for
those who would kill it.

Forgive us for when we take our
stand in ways that demonstrate
that we have not taken Christ
and love into account at all;

forgive us for when we let
other interests and concerns
inspire our opinions and
drive our commitments.

Give us grace to stand
where Jesus stood;
help us to stand on
sacrificial love.

Amen.

A Prayer for Thursday, July 2, 2015

Turn

O God,

Help us

to turn away from what is harmful,
to turn toward what is helpful,
to turn aside to what is interesting,
to turn back from what is meaningless,
to turn down what is hurtful,
to turn in to where we belong, and
to turn into who we are meant to be.

And in all things,

help us always

to turn to you.

Amen.

A Prayer for Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Quit

O God,

Give us grace to know when to quit.

Give us grace to know when it’s time to quit working.
Let us know when we’ve done enough.

Help us to know when it’s time to rest.

Give us grace to know when it’s time to quit pushing.
Let us know when we’ve expended enough energy trying
to convince somebody to see things our way.

Help us to know when it’s time to be quiet.

Give us grace to know when it’s time to quit trying.
Let us know when we’ve put as much as we can or should into a cause.

Help us to know when it’s time to
let someone else continue the fight.

Give us grace to know when it’s time to quit wondering.
Let us know when we’ve pursued a question as far as we need to for now.

Help us to know when it’s time to let faith be enough.

Give us grace to know when it’s time to quit breathing.
Let us know when we’ve lived as long on this Earth as we need to live.

Help us to know when it’s time to turn loose and go home.

Give us grace to know when to quit.

But also give us grace not to quit
one second before we should …

Amen.