Wednesday, September 30, 2015

A Prayer for Wednesday, September 30, 2015

When

O God,

We say the word a lot.

“When I finish this project . . .”
“When I graduate . . .”
“When I save some money . . .”
“When I get a better job . . .”
“When I retire . . .”
“When I die . . .”

When we use “when” like
that, we are looking ahead.

We are anticipating the future.

Let our every use of “when”
in that way be an expression
of our hope in you.

Whenever we say it in such
a context, let it be a prayer that
we will entrust our future to you.

Let it be a statement of faith
that our lives are in your hands.

Amen.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

A Prayer for Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Mars

O God,

Scientists told us yesterday
that there is water on Mars.

And where there is water,
there can be life.

What a marvelous solar system!
What a wondrous universe!

We praise you for your
magnificent creation.

We thank you for
the discoveries of science.

Help us to be as excited about
providing clean drinking water
for people here on Earth as we
are about finding water on Mars.

Help us to be as interested
in nurturing and preserving
life here on Earth as we
are about finding it elsewhere.

Amen.

Monday, September 28, 2015

A Prayer for Monday, September 28, 2015

Opportunities

O God,

Thank you for the opportunities that
will present themselves to us this week.

Help us to take good advantage of them.

When we have the opportunity

to give of ourselves
for the sake of others,

to forgive someone
for a wrong done to us,

to listen to someone
with a story to tell,

to accept someone with the same
openness we’d like to receive,

to help someone who
has fallen to get up,

and

to broaden our experience,
grow our spirits, and
expand our minds,

help us not to let the opportunity slip by.

Help us instead to embrace it fully.

Thank you for the opportunities that
will present themselves to us this week.

Help us to take good advantage of them . . .

Amen.

Sunday, September 27, 2015

A Prayer for Sunday, September 27, 2015

Super Moon Eclipse


O God,

We praise you for the opportunity
to witness a rare wonder tonight:

the Super Moon Total Eclipse.

We praise you for the
wonders of your creation.

We praise you for the science
that makes it possible for us
to know this event is coming
and to look forward to it.

Thank you for allowing us to
move beyond the mindset of
primitives for whom such events
likely inspired panic and terror.

Thank you for allowing us to move
beyond the mindset of past well-meaning
but misguided Christian thinkers who saw
such events as harbingers of the apocalypse.

Give us grace tonight to sit
back and be amazed at the
wonder of your creation.

We praise you for painting
such a beautiful picture …

Amen.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

A Prayer for Saturday, September 26, 2015

Please

O God,

Please let the motivation
behind all we do be

to please you

rather than

to please ourselves
or other people.

Amen.

Friday, September 25, 2015

A Prayer for Friday, September 25, 2015

Consistent

O God,

I’m not always consistent.

I change my mind,
I change my attitude, and
I change my actions.

It’s normal.
I’m human.

Let my changes be,
as much as possible,
for the better.

But Lord, there are ways
in which I need to be
very consistent, and I
need your help to do so.

So help me to be consistent

in love,
in trust,
in hope,
in faithfulness,
in mercy,
in forgiveness,
and
in service.

Amen.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

A Prayer for Thursday, September 24, 2015

All

O God,

For all the people I have known and will know,
for all the experiences I have had and will have,
for all the challenges I have faced and will face,
for all the love I have shared and will share,
for all the life I have lived and will live,

I thank you.

Amen.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

A Prayer for Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Judgment

O God,

Remind us when we read our Bibles that, when we stand in judgment over the characters in its stories, we just might stand in judgment over ourselves.

For example:

When we stand in judgment over the Pharisee who thanked you that he was not like other people, over the rich man who ignored the poor and sick man at his gate, over the other rich man who wanted to hoard all of his possessions rather than focus on eternal things and on helping others, and over the priest and Levite who passed by on the other side of the road, we may well be standing in judgment over ourselves.

So guide our reading. Lead us to the correlations between the characters and us that we need to see. Help us to face the truth about ourselves. Enable us to repent as we need to repent. Help us to live as we should live.

Amen.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

A Prayer for Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Exist

O God,

On the one hand, we are grateful to exist.

After all, if we didn’t exist, we’d have
nothing for which to be thankful.

On the other hand, we want
to do more than exist.

After all, we only go around once in this life
and we’d really like to make the best of it.

So help us to live these lives
as fully as we possibly can.

Help us to take notice
of the wonders of creation.

Help us to celebrate
the diversity of humanity.

Help us to do what we can
to make things better.

Help us to love with all
the love you give us.

Help us to contribute positively
to our communities.

Help us to help those
who need our help.

Help us to love you with
everything we are.

Help us to think more of others
than we do ourselves.

Help us to turn inward
enough to be self-aware.

Help us to turn outward
enough to be other-oriented.

Thank you that we exist.
Thank you that we can live.

Help us to live in ways that matter not just
to us but also to you and to others.

Amen.

Monday, September 21, 2015

A Prayer for Monday, September 21, 2015

Waste

O God,

Help us not to be wasteful.

Help us not to waste

food, energy, money, and time.

Help us not to waste the
opportunities we have

to help,
to encourage,
to accept,
to forgive,
to contribute,
to trust,
to hope,
to learn,
to share,
to wonder,
to worship,
to listen, and
to love.

Thank you for everything
you have given us.

Help us not to waste it . . .

Amen.

Sunday, September 20, 2015

A Prayer for Sunday, September 20, 2015

The Lord’s Day

O God,

One of the things we will do as
we worship you today is pray.

Thank you for the opportunity
to pray together as your people.

As we pray, help us to remember that
you are our loving Father who wants
to give us good things and that we
are your children who can depend
on you to give us what is best.

As we pray, help us to remember
that we want your will to be done
and that your will sometimes
means a challenging road for us.

As we pray, help us to remember
to thank you for who you are and
for all you have done before we start
asking for what we think we need.

As we pray, help us to remember
to keep our focus on loving you
with all we are and on loving
our neighbor as ourselves.

As we pray, help us to remember
that the very best thing you give us
is yourself and that you therefore give us
the Holy Spirit to be with us in all things.

As we pray, help us to remember that
we should listen to you as much as
or more than we talk to you.

Amen.

A Prayer for Saturday, September 19, 2015

Forget and Forgive

O God,

For forgetting to post a daily prayer for the first time in years because I was thinking about the book I'm writing and about college football, forgive me.

Amen.

Friday, September 18, 2015

A Prayer for Friday, September 18, 2015

Move

O God,

Let the hurts and troubles
that move your heart

with compassion

move our hearts as well.

Let the compassion
that moves you to act

with grace, love, and mercy

move us to act as well.

Amen.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

A Prayer for Thursday, September 17, 2015

Words

O God,

Develop our spirits so that we want
to contribute to the spreading
of peace, love, and understanding.

Let our words reflect such spirits.

Let our words be words of peace.

Let our words reflect a state of
ever-increasing wholeness and health
in our relationships with you,
with others, and with ourselves.

Let our words contribute to the growth
of such wholeness and health in individuals,
in our communities, and in our world.

Let our words be words of love.

Let our words reflect an ever-increasing
willingness to give ourselves away for
your sake and for the sake of others.

Let our words contribute to the
willingness of others to join in a commitment
to shared sacrifice for the good of all.

Let our words be words of understanding.

Let our words reflect an ever-increasing
awareness that cultures and people are different
and that the differences are fascinating.

Let our words contribute to the
effort to build bridges and to foster
dialogue between groups and individuals.

Help us to use our words

to build up and not to tear down,
to help and not to hurt, and
to discuss and not to shout.

Amen.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

A Prayer for Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Bless You

O God,

We say it to someone—
sometimes even to
a complete stranger—
when she or he sneezes.

Help us to bless others—
even complete strangers—
in more substantial ways.

Help us to bless them

with our acceptance,
with our kindness,
with our mercy,
with our understanding,
and
with our love.

Help us to bless them

with our attitudes,
with our words,
and
with our actions.

Help us to bless them
with the blessings with
which you have blessed us.

Amen.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

A Prayer for Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Simple

O God,

It’s a complicated world filled
with complicated problems.

Bless and lead those who are
responsible to try to find solutions.

As we live our lives,
help us to keep things simple.

Help us to practice simple faith,
always putting our trust in you.

Help us to practice simple hope,
always looking forward to your future.

Help us to practice simple gratitude,
always being thankful for what we have.

Help us to practice simple love,
always giving of ourselves however we can.

Help us to practice simple grace,
always accepting others as they are.

Maybe if we practice such simplicity, some of the
complicated things will take care of themselves.

Help us to keep it simple.

Amen.

Monday, September 14, 2015

A Prayer for Monday, September 14, 2015

About

O God,

Thank you for the privilege
to learn about things.

Thank you that we can learn

about the world,
about cultures, and
about ideas.

Thank you that we can learn

about ourselves,
about others, and even
about you.

Help us, though, not just to learn
about ourselves, others, and you.

Help us instead to know
ourselves, others, and you.

And as we come to know
ourselves, others, and you,
help us to love them all.

Help us furthermore to love you,
to love others, and to love ourselves
in ways that lead us to give ourselves
away for your sake and for others’ sake,

since it is in losing ourselves
that we find ourselves.

Don’t let us settle for knowing

about you,
about others, and
about ourselves.

Don’t let us live our lives keeping
everyone at arm’s length.

Help us instead

to know,
to love, and
to give.

Amen.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

A Prayer for Sunday, September 13, 2015

The Lord’s Day

O God,

Deepen our sense of humility.
Enhance our awareness of our need.
Increase our awareness of others’ needs.

Make us ever more aware of how much we need you.
Make us ever more aware of how much we need each other.

In humility, let us depend on you more than on anyone else.
In humility, let us help anyone who depends on us.
In humility, let us accept help from others on whom we depend.

Help us always to remember and to live in light of
the fact that it is always all about all of us,

together.

Amen.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

A Prayer for Saturday, September 12, 2015

Too Much

O God,

Help us try not to talk too much.
Help us try not to worry too much.
Help us try not to interfere too much.
Help us try not to work too much.
Help us try not to try too much.

But …

Help us try to love too much.
Help us try to forgive too much.
Help us try to give too much.
Help us try to serve too much.
Help us try to help too much.

Amen.

Friday, September 11, 2015

A Prayer for Friday, September 11, 2015

Prepositions

O God,

Help us always to be aware

that behind every label
there are people,

that within every category
there are individuals,

that below every heading
there are human beings,

and

that beyond every stereotype
there are women, men,
children, and families.

Amen.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

A Prayer for Thursday, September 10, 2015

Polls

O God,

We hear a lot about public opinion polls. Polling firms talk to people to try to determine what they think about some issue. Then they tell us what we think.

Help us not to be influenced too much by public opinion.

Help us instead to seek to know, as best we can, how we should approach an issue based on our following of your Son Jesus. Let our thinking be guided by your grace and love more than by any other factors.

Even then, help us not to be overly satisfied with our opinion. Guard us against the tendency to make our minds up about something so completely that we are not open to new evidence or to developing situations. After all, we can come to a fuller understanding of how our following of Jesus and of how your grace and love would lead us to approach an issue.

Help us not to be content just to have an opinion. Remind us that if a matter is important enough for us to have an opinion about, it’s probably important enough for us to do something about.

Show us how to act in ways that will help. Help us to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Help us to live so that, if pollsters were to conduct a poll to find out how people know whether or not someone is Christian, the #1 answer will be, “We know they are Christians by their love.”

Amen.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

A Prayer for Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Refugees

O God,

It must break your heart to see so many of your children so desperate to flee their homeland that they put their lives and the lives of their children at such risk.

It must break your heart to watch people wage war. It must break your heart to watch them wage war in ways that put innocent civilians, including children, in harm’s way. It must break your heart to see attacks target innocent civilians.

It breaks our hearts.

If it doesn’t, cause us to wonder why—and to repent.

Thank you for those organizations and nations that are doing something to shelter and even to accept refugees. Bless their efforts. Lead more countries, including ours, to do whatever they can to help.

Give the refugees a home. Show us how to make homes available to them.
Give the refugees peace. Show us how to make peace available to them.

And please, God, intervene in the hearts and lives of the people who are fighting the wars that are producing the refugees. Give them spirits and minds that want peace. Show them how to find ways to work for peace that do not involve killing people and destroying nations.

Bless the refugees. Show us how to bless them ourselves.

Amen.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

A Prayer for Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Blink

O God,

We are aware that
everything can change

in the blink of an eye.

We are also aware that
with most blinks of our eyes,
everything pretty much stays
pretty much the same.

We never know which
way it’s going to be.
Therein lie the mystery
and wonder of life.
Therein can also lie the
fear and anxiety of life.

Keep us always aware
of the mystery of life.

Help us to remember that, while we
are not ultimately in control of our
lives, you are in control of the universe.

Help us to trust in your love and grace
more than we believe in anything else.

Fill us with peace;
take away our anxiety.

Fill us with trust;
take away our fear.

Fill us with hope;
take away our despair.

Let our every blink be a prayer of thanks
that you are with us in every moment and
that we can rest in you in everything.

Amen.

Monday, September 7, 2015

A Prayer for Monday, September 7, 2015

Freedom

O God,

We thank you that in Christ,
we are free under grace.

We thank you that as Americans,
we are free under the Constitution.

Help us as Christians, who
also happen to be Americans,

not to use our freedom
as an opportunity to sin,

never to use our freedom
as an excuse to do harm to others,

never to regard our freedom
as more important than that of others,

and

always to use our freedom

to love,
to accept,
to understand,
and
to help.

Amen.

Sunday, September 6, 2015

A Prayer for Sunday, September 6, 2015

The Lord’s Day

O God,

Thank you for this day that reminds
us of the great hope we have in you.

Thank you for the hope that is ours
because Jesus Christ is risen from the grave.

Make us ever more aware
of the hope that is in us.

Fill us so full of hope that it spills out
of us and onto everyone we encounter.

Remind us that Christian
hope is not wishful thinking.

Remind us that Christian hope is
assurance that you keep your promises.

Remind us that our hope is
grounded in our resurrected Lord and is
made alive in us by your Spirit.

Because our hope teaches us that
everything will be all right someday,

let us be the hopeful
people we should be today.

And because hope leads us to try
to make things better every day,

let us also be the most helpful
people we can be today.

Amen.

Saturday, September 5, 2015

A Prayer for Saturday, September 5, 2015

Relaxation

O God,

For days when relaxation, fun, and fellowship are all that we expect and are all that is expected of us, we thank you.

We also thank you for a life that is so filled with responsibility and with work that those rare days of relaxation, fun, and fellowship really mean something.

Amen.

Friday, September 4, 2015

A Prayer for Friday, September 4, 2015

Thanks

O God,

Thank you for the people
I have known, know, and will know.

Thank you for the experiences
I have had, have, and will have.

Thank you for the family and friends
I have loved, love, and will love.

Thank you for the challenges
I have faced, face, and will face.

Thank you for the fun
I have had, have, and will have.

Thank you for the books
I have read, am reading, and will read.

Thank you for the music
I have enjoyed, enjoy, and will enjoy.

Thank you for the grace
I have known, know, and will know.

Thank you for the life
I have lived, am living, and will live.

Amen.

Thursday, September 3, 2015

A Prayer for Thursday, September 3, 2015

Find

O God,

Who knows what we haven’t found
because we weren’t looking?

Who knows what we have missed
because we weren’t paying attention?

Help us keep our eyes open.
Help us be aware of our surroundings.
Help us be alert to what is happening around us.

Help us look out for what you have in
store for us that we have never imagined.

Help us watch for people
who can touch our lives for good and
whose lives we can touch for good.

Help us to be on the lookout for opportunities
to experience your grace and to share your grace.

Help us to seek what you have in store for us
so we can find what you have in store for us.

Amen.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

A Prayer for Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Chance

O God,

Thank you for people who gave us a chance.

Thank you for those who gave us a chance to show what we can do and to become who we could become. Thank you for those who helped us get started and for those who helped us keep going.

Thank you for people who give us a chance.

Thank you especially for those who give us the chance to love them and to be loved by them.

We are grateful to you for those who gave and who give us a chance.

Remind us to take advantage of every chance we have to thank them.

Amen.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

A Prayer for Tuesday, September 1, 2015

First

O God,

Let our first thought
be of understanding and
not of judgment.

Let our first feeling
be of compassion and
not of apathy.

Let our first word
be of encouragement and
not of discouragement.

Let our first action
be of help and
not of avoidance.

Let our first loyalty
be to you and
not to ideology.

Let our first concern
be for others and
not for ourselves.

Amen.