Saturday, January 31, 2015

A Prayer for Saturday, January 31, 2015

Mortification

O God,

Sometimes I am mortified by something I do or don’t do; sometimes I am ashamed because I do not live up to my expectations of myself.

Sometimes I purposely mortify myself; I try to discipline my body—to deny myself something that I enjoy, usually—in order to try to heighten my sense of dependence on you and to remind myself that my true joy is in you.

Sometimes I am made aware of the mortification of my body in another sense: it is in fact decaying and one day it will die.

Let mortification be an appropriate part of my life; after all, I do fall short, I do need to discipline myself, and I am going to die.

On the other hand, don’t let me overdo it—don’t let my shame linger; don’t let me despise my body; don’t let me fixate on my death.

Instead, move me in your grace toward acceptance of myself, toward appreciation of this body that you gave me, and toward anticipation of life beyond life.

Amen.

Friday, January 30, 2015

A Prayer for Friday, January 30, 2015

Glances

O God,

Let us glance backward occasionally
so we can understand how
the past has helped to shape us.

Let us glace forward occasionally
so we can catch a glimpse of your future
and have our hope renewed.

Let us glance around enough
to notice opportunities,
to recognize obstacles, and
to gain perspective.

Let our glances backward, forward, and around
be a part of our keeping our eyes focused on you and
on our commitment to following you, trusting you,
and serving you in all things.

Let us have singleness of vision;
let our glances always be related to it …

Amen.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

A Prayer for Thursday, January 29, 2015

Blessing

O God,

Thank you for all the ways in which you are a blessing to us and for all the ways that you bestow your blessing on us.

Give us grace to be a blessing; give us grace to be a blessing to you and to be a blessing to others.

Help us to be a blessing to you by reflecting in our lives your image, your grace, and your love.

Help us to be a blessing to others by blessing them with our attitudes, with our words, and with our actions.

Thank you for being a blessing; help us to be a blessing.

Amen.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

A Prayer for Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Growth

O God,

Thank you that you forgive when we cannot forgive, that you are faithful when we cannot be faithful, that you offer grace when we cannot offer grace, and that you love when we cannot love.

Help us to experience and to grow in your forgiveness, in your faithfulness, in your grace, and in your love so that we will become more able and willing gratefully to share with others what you so generously bestow on us and on them.

Amen.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

A Prayer for Tuesday, January 27, 2015

For Grace

O God,

We pray for grace

to love you more,
to love others more, and
to love ourselves more.

We pray for grace

to be less cynical,
to be less jaded, and
to be less negative.

We pray for grace

to be more concerned,
to be more hopeful, and
to be more involved.

We pray for grace …

Amen.

Monday, January 26, 2015

A Prayer for Monday, January 26, 2015

Foolish

O God,

Sometimes we make foolish choices, sometimes we make foolish decisions, and sometimes we take foolish actions.

Sometimes we pay for them; hopefully we learn from them, too.

Thank you, though, for your amazing grace in which we can be—and often are—blessed even in and through our foolishness.

Thank you for how you manage to write straight with our crooked lines. Thank you for how you work through our frailty and foolishness to accomplish your will and to bring about your purposes.

Help us to become wiser.

But help us also to remember that you don’t depend on our wisdom …

Amen.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

A Prayer for Sunday, January 25, 2015

The Lord’s Day

O God,

Thank you for a special day in each week on which we stop to be reminded that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.

Use this special day to increase our awareness of the reality that Jesus Christ is risen all the time; help us to remember that in truth every day is the Lord’s Day.

So as we today celebrate the resurrection of our Lord let it be a celebration that carries over into all of our days—indeed, into all of our moments ...

Amen.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

A Prayer for Saturday, January 24, 2015

Alive

O God,

For as long as we live on this Earth, let us be fully alive.

We acknowledge our limitations; there are things we cannot know, things we cannot understand, things we cannot do, and things we cannot be because we are human and because of our particular genetic makeup.

Still, there are so many limitations that we accept that are not imposed on us; there are so many narrow and shallow attitudes, mindsets, assumptions, customs, and ways that we accept and follow uncritically and that keep us from experiencing life in all its wonder and glory.

Show us any such things in our life that drain life from us rather than pour life into us; show us how to turn away from them and to turn toward other attitudes, mindsets, assumptions, customs, and ways that would make us more fully alive.

For as long as we live on this Earth, let us be fully alive.

And when our life here is over, make us more alive than we ever thought possible.

Amen.

Friday, January 23, 2015

A Prayer for Friday, January 23, 2015

Laugh

O God,

Thank you for the ability to laugh;
thank you for the pleasure that laughter brings.

Give us a healthy ability to laugh at ourselves;
help us not to take ourselves too seriously.

Protect us from the tendency to laugh at others;
help us not to find pleasure in their pain.

Grant us the joy of laughing with others;
help us to know the fun of being in community.

Let us laugh at what makes you laugh.

Let us live in the knowledge that you will have the last laugh …

Amen.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

A Prayer for Thursday, January 22, 2015

Pause

O God,

Let the living of life give us pause;

help us to become so aware of the mysteries and wonders of life and to become so attuned to the rhythms and vagaries of life that we consistently pause to ponder, to absorb, and to respond to all that is going on around us.

Let us live moment by moment with so much awareness, attentiveness, and sensitivity that it doesn’t take a terrible tragedy or a spectacular event to give us pause; help us constantly to live life as the ongoing remarkable experience that it is.

And when life gives us pause, help us to experience you in all of it and remind us to give you praise for all of it …

Amen.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

A Prayer for Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Multiverse

O God,

Some of our scientists tell us that we may live in a multiverse, that the universe in which we live may be only one of many—perhaps an infinite number—of universes.

As if we didn’t already feel lost in the cosmos!

On the other hand, it was already remarkable to ponder how, in the vast universe that we know for sure exists, we by your grace and through your power ended up being here on this planet on which conditions are just right for the development of life. Help us to work together to take better care of our planet since it is, at least for the foreseeable future, the only home we have.

And it was already beyond remarkable to consider that you, the God of all that ever has been, is now, and ever will be, think about us, care about us, and love us. It was and is way beyond remarkable to consider that you love us so much that you entered this world in human form through Jesus Christ who submitted himself to death on the cross for our sake. It was and is way beyond remarkable to consider that you are with us right here and right now.

O God, open our minds to the vast realities of your Creation. Open our imagination to our place in the multiverse (if that's what it is), in the universe, in the world, in our community, and in your kingdom. Open our hearts to your love for and presence with us.

Help us to worship you as the God who made and sustains all that is and as the God who knows and loves each one of us.

Amen.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

A Prayer for Tuesday, January 20, 2015

True

O God,

We want to be true to ourselves,
to who you made us to be,
to who you intend us to be, and
to who you saved us to be.

Give us courage to examine ourselves
honestly that we might know who we are;

give us insight to distinguish between our true self
and whatever false selves we have constructed
in our misguided efforts to hide our true self
from ourselves, from others, and from you.

Give us faith to trust you to remove our
false identities and to restore our true self;

give us a vision of who we can and will be as
we grow by your grace toward reclaiming your image in us.

Give us ever-increasing integrity so that
our words and actions will come from
sound motives that are produced by our true self
and so that our true self will grow more and more
into the one that is truly ours in you.

Amen.

Monday, January 19, 2015

A Prayer for Monday, January 19, 2015

Stand

O God,

Help us to stand for equality, for fairness, for justice, and for dignity.

Since we believe that one day all of your people will be together forever in one community, help us to do all that we can to build that community here and now. Help us to live in ways that will foster on Earth what will be in heaven.

As we take our stands, help us to take them in ways that reflect your ways—the ways of love, grace, sacrifice, service, and non-violence. Help us not to respond to evil with evil but rather to overcome evil with good.

Help us to stand for what is best and not for what is customary, for what should be and not for what is, for the kingdom of heaven and not for the kingdom of this world, and for all people and not just for our people.

Help us to stand for good and not for evil, for right and not for wrong, for love and not for hate, for hope and not for despair, and for justice and not for injustice.

Amen.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

A Prayer for Sunday, January 18, 2015

The Lord’s Day

O God,

On the one hand, we want to know you; on the other hand, we shudder at the prospect of knowing you.

We want to know you because we are made to know you and because down deep in our hearts we know that we must know you if we are to be fully ourselves. But we shudder at the prospect of knowing you because you are a holy God and we are so flawed and frail and broken.

The gain, though, is well worth the risk. Thank you for making yourself known to us in all of the ways that you in your grace have chosen to make yourself known to us, but especially in your Son Jesus Christ and through your Spirit. Show us how to keep our lives open to you so that we can grow in our knowledge of you.

On the one hand, we want to be known by you; on the other hand, we shudder at the prospect of being known by you.

We want to be known by you because we need someone to know us as we truly are, to accept us as we truly are, and to love us as we truly are. We shudder at the prospect of being known by you because we know ourselves so well and dread the vulnerability that comes with being known fully by someone else.

Help us to remember that you know us fully whether or not we want you to know us. Help us to accept that reality and to live in light of it; help us to keep our lives open to the ways that you can help us to understand ourselves and that you can help us to be the best version of ourselves that we can possibly be.

We praise you, O God, because you know us and because you let us know you.

We praise you that in your grace you choose to have the fullest possible relationship with us that we are willing to let happen. Help us always to be conscious of just how badly we really do want it …

Amen.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

A Prayer for Saturday, January 17, 2015

For the Life of Me

O God,

Sometimes it seems that I can’t for the life of me
get my eyes off of myself long enough to pay
appropriate attention to you and to other people.
It is at those times, which are all too frequent, that
I find little meaning, challenge, or satisfaction in life.

So, for the life of me—for the sake of my life,
for the sake of my life meaning what it can and should mean—
help me better to turn my eyes away from myself and
more toward you and toward others.

Help me to live in light of the fact that
real life is found not in over-valuing my life
but rather in giving it away.

Help me to live in light of the fact that
it is in living life for your sake and
for the sake of others that
I best live life for my sake as well.

Amen.

Friday, January 16, 2015

A Prayer for Friday, January 16, 2015

Present

O God,

Help us always to remember

that you are present with us,
that we are to be present with each other, and
that we are to be present in the moment.

So in each and every second that we live, help us to live

fully in your presence,
fully with each other, and
fully in the moment.

Heighten our awareness

of you,
of ourselves,
of others,
of situations, and
of life

that we might live our lives as fully as possible.

Amen.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

A Prayer for Thursday, January 15, 2015

Vision

O God,

Improve our vision; give us the ability to see more clearly.

Improve our vision

so that we can see your purposes more clearly,
so that we can see our own hearts more clearly,
so that we can see other people more clearly,
so that we can see problems to be addressed more clearly,
so that we can see opportunities to help more clearly,
so that we can see our way forward more clearly,
so that we can see the wonder of life more clearly,
so that we can see truth more clearly, and
so that we can see you more clearly.

As we learn to see more clearly, give us a clear vision
of how we should be and of what we should do—
then help us to grow toward being and doing what we should.

Amen.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

A Prayer for Wednesday, January 14, 2015

As For Those …

O God,

As for those who try to bring us together, we pray that they will know success.
As for those who attempt to divide us, we pray that they will experience failure.

As for those who work for peace, we pray that they will know success.
As for those who pursue war, we pray that they will experience failure.

As for those who try to foster appreciation for other cultures, we pray that they will know success.
As for those who try to create conflict between cultures, we pray that they will experience failure.

As for those who value their faith without denigrating that of others, we pray that they will know success.
As for those who would go to any extreme to have their religion triumph over others, we pray that they will experience failure.

As for those who want to see respect, understanding, and appreciation increase, we pray that will know success.
As for those who want to see disrespect, ignorance, and fear increase, we pray that they will experience failure.

As for those who pursue love, we pray that they will know success.
As for those who promote hate, we pray that they will experience failure.

Amen.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

A Prayer for Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Up

O God,

When we fall, cause us to get up.
When we are discouraged, cause us to look up.
When we sin, cause us to ‘fess up.
When we are challenged, cause us to buck up.
When we are unsure, cause us to hold up.
When we are needed, cause us to join up.
When we can’t do it alone, cause us to link up.
When we are close minded, cause us to open up.
When we have options, cause us to size up.
When we need to bear witness, cause us to put up.
When we need to be quiet, cause us to shut up.
When we should give, cause us to pony up.
When we get weak in our faith, cause us to tone up.
When we are being deceived, cause us to wise up.

When we die, cause us to rise up.

Amen.

Monday, January 12, 2015

A Prayer for Monday, January 12, 2015

Open

O God,

It is so tempting for us to close ourselves off from situations that threaten us, from people who challenge us, from changes that trouble us, and from opportunities that stretch us.

Help us to be open to the paths down which you point us regardless of how difficult and lonely they may be. Give us a faith-inspired openness that is stronger than our fear-inspired closedness.

Especially make us open to ways in which we can and should think, feel, speak, and act that will bear witness to the presence of your Spirit and to our following of your Son.

Close us off from fear.

Open us up to faith.

Amen.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

A Prayer for Sunday, January 11, 2015

The Lord’s Day

O God,

Thank you for the privilege of gathering today as your baptized people.

Lead us to worship you today as those who have been baptized not only with water but also with the Holy Spirit.

Let our worship of you today help us to move farther down the path of knowing that we are baptized with your Spirit and of living in light of the fact that we are baptized with your Spirit.

We praise you for the comfort of your Spirit; help us to rest in that comfort.
We praise you for the challenge of your Spirit; help us to respond to that challenge.
We praise you for the empowerment of your Spirit; help us to draw on that empowerment.
We praise you for the instruction of your Spirit; help us to listen to that instruction.
We praise you for the leadership of your Spirit; help us to follow that leadership.
We praise you for the grace of your Spirit; help us to embody that grace.

Amen.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

A Prayer for Saturday, January 10, 2015

Deep

O God,

Help us to go deep

in our relationship with you,
in our relationships with each other,
in our understanding of ourselves,
in our understanding of the world,
in our ability and willingness to forgive,
in our experience of your grace, and
in our knowing and sharing of your love.

Forgive us for when we choose
the shallow, easy, and lazy way.

Lead us instead to choose
the deep, difficult, and committed way.

Amen.

Friday, January 9, 2015

A Prayer for Friday, January 9, 2015

Balance

O God,

Help us to find an appropriate balance

between idealism and realism,
between freedom and responsibility,
between the one and the many,
between the eternal and the temporal, and
between conviction and openness.

Help us

to accept that which we should accept,
to strive for that for which we should strive,
to live with that with which we should live, and
to work to change that which should be changed.

Where our lives are out of balance, let them be out of balance because
we give more weight to grace, love, hope, mercy, trust, and peace
than we do to anything else and because
we give as little weight as possible—with no weight at all being our goal—
to fear, hate, apathy, revenge, and judgmentalism.

Show us how to have you at the center of
everything with which we deal in our lives.

Help us in all things to have as our aims
to love you with all we are and
to love others as we love ourselves.

Amen.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

A Prayer for Thursday, January 8, 2015

Plenty

O God,

Give us enough grace, love, faith, hope, and peace to make it through the day.

On second thought, give us more grace, love, faith, hope, and peace than we need to make it through this day.

Actually, give us so much grace, love, faith, hope, and peace that we have enough to share.

Oh, and give us the opportunity, the attentiveness, the desire, and the willingness to share them …

Amen.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

A Prayer for Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Enlighten

O God,

There is a lot of darkness in this world.

Thank you for sending Jesus to be the Light of the world;
thank you that the darkness has not and will not overcome his light.

Thank you that we who follow him can reflect his light so that
we become instruments through which the darkness is dispelled.

We could always use more light ourselves, though.

So enlighten us that we might better understand

the ways in which the world and even the universe work,
the lives of people whose experience is much different than ours,
the mysterious and counterintuitive ways that grace works,
your purposes in and goals for human history, and
the ways that your love is to show itself in our lives.

Then help us to live in the light of our ever-increasing enlightenment …

Amen.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

A Prayer for Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Epiphany

O God,

We praise you today for the grace of revelation;
we praise you that in your grace you reveal yourself to us
so that we might have the privilege of knowing you and
of knowing that we are known by you.

We praise you

for revealing yourself in your Son Jesus Christ,
for revealing him to the Magi and to people of every sort,
for revealing him as your Son in his baptism,
for revealing him as Savior in his crucifixion,
for revealing him as Lord in his resurrection and ascension,
for revealing him to us through your Holy Spirit,
for revealing him to the world in your Church, and
for revealing him to us in the lives of people who help us and who need our help.

Make and keep us open

to all the ways that Jesus is made known to us and
to all the ways that we can make Jesus known to others.

Amen.

Monday, January 5, 2015

A Prayer for Monday, January 5, 2015

Twelfth Day of Christmas

O God,

Thank you for these twelve days

of remembering and celebrating the Incarnation,

of remembering and celebrating the fact that
in Jesus Christ you came to be with us, and

of remembering and celebrating the fact that
in Jesus Christ you are now and always will be with us.

Let our remembering and celebrating
carry over into every day of our lives.

Let us always remember and celebrate
your great love and amazing grace.

Let us always remember and celebrate
that you are always with us.

Amen.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

A Prayer for Sunday, January 4, 2015

Eleventh Day of Christmas

O God,

We praise you not only because the baby Jesus was your beloved Son but also because you affirmed his sonship for him in his adulthood when he was baptized by John the Baptist.

We praise you because in your Son Jesus we are your children, too.

Sometimes we forget that we are your children; sometimes we doubt that we are your children; sometimes we take for granted that we are your children.

And sometimes we remember that we are your children; sometimes we trust that we are your children; sometimes we are humbly grateful that we are your children.

Let us remember more often than we forget; let us trust more often than we doubt; let us be humbly grateful more often than we presume.

Let us hear, accept, and live in light of your gracious affirmation that we are in Christ and in fact your beloved children.

Then let our lives demonstrate a family resemblance …

Amen.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

A Prayer for Saturday, January 3, 2015

Tenth Day of Christmas

O God,

We praise you that in the coming of Christ
you caused creation to turn the corner
toward the time when you will make
everything as it is meant to be.

We praise you that by your grace you
call us to be in on and to be a part of what
are doing in Christ to move
all things toward their goal.

Forgive us for when we forget what you are doing;
forgive us for when we fail to contribute to what you are doing;
forgive us for when we live as if we have no role in what you are doing.

Encourage us when we try but become discouraged;
empower us for the life you have given us to live;
enlarge our vision that we might better see your big picture.

Since in Christ you are bringing all things into
wholeness and unity, show us how to be people

who build up rather than tear down,
who help rather than hurt,
who are part of the solution rather than part of the problem,
who promote hope rather than despair,
who demonstrate love rather than hate,
who emphasize what unites us more than what separates us,
who listen more than we talk,
who practice humility rather than arrogance,
who work to make things better rather than complain about how bad things are,
who value others’ experience as much as we do our own, and
who trust in you rather than in our doctrinal systems, genetic inheritance, social circumstances, political positions, or anything else.

Oh God, help us to see and to participate in
what you are in Christ moving all things toward being.

Amen.

Friday, January 2, 2015

A Prayer for Friday, January 2, 2015

Ninth Day of Christmas

O God,

We praise you that in Jesus Christ you
came to us to make your home with us.

We acknowledge our tendency to
run away from that home;
give us grace enough to return.

Perhaps we run

because we think we don’t deserve such a home or
because we are afraid of the expectations that come with such a home or
because in Jesus we see what love in such a home can cost us and others or
because of our acceptance or rejection by others with whom we share that home.

Perhaps we hesitate to return for the same reasons.

Give us grace to remember

that you welcome us home,
that home is where we belong, and
that being home here leads to being home there.

Thank you for making your home with us.
Thank you for welcoming us back home.

Amen.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

A Prayer for Thursday, January 1, 2015

Eighth Day of Christmas

O God,

We praise you that your Son was named Jesus, which means “Savior”;
we thank you that he came to save us from our sins.

From what do we still need saving?

Do we still need saving

from pride,
from fear,
from anger,
from resentment,
from greed,
from prejudice,
from judgmentalism,
from envy,
from apathy,
from selfishness,
from arrogance,
from isolation,
from sloth,
from inattention,
from shortsightedness,
from jingoism,
from narrow-mindedness,
or
from ignorance?

Help us to recognize and to confess
that from what we still need saving.

Then, through Jesus Christ our Lord, save us!

Amen.