Saturday, April 30, 2016

A Prayer for Saturday, April 30, 2016

Thirty-Fifth Day of Easter

O God,

Raise us up so we can see past our abilities.

Let us recognize, embrace, and use our abilities. Give us enough confidence in what we can do that we do it. Don’t let us do less than we are able to do. Help us live up to our full potential.

But also help us look past what we are able to do so we keep our eyes on what you can do. Protect us from the foolishness of trusting in ourselves too much. Protect us from the frustration of thinking that it all depends on us. Help us trust in you to accomplish what only you can accomplish, and to do more through us than we are able to do on our own.

Amen.

Friday, April 29, 2016

A Prayer for Friday, April 29, 2016

Thirty-Fourth Day of Easter

O God,

Raise us up so we can see past our assumptions.

We assume some things because they have proven to be true. We assume the air is there because we’ve breathed it for as long as we’ve been alive.

We assume some things because we trust they are true. We assume your grace and love because we trust that Jesus is your greatest self-revelation, and he was full of grace and love.

We assume some things because we’ve been told they are true. Some of those things are right, while others of them are wrong. Some are even terribly wrong.

Help us be discerning about our assumptions.

If they are right, help us continue to embrace them.
If they are wrong, help us see and move beyond them.

Guide us by your love. If any assumption leads us to think, speak, and act in ways that are not motivated by love, help us abandon it immediately. If any assumption leads us to think, speak, and act in ways that are motivated by love, help us embrace it fully.

Amen.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

A Prayer for Thursday, April 28, 2016

Thirty-Third Day of Easter

O God,

Raise us up so we can see past our suffering.

Help us first to see whether what we think of as suffering really is. Keep us from exaggeration. Give us perspective.

Help us second to see if our suffering is self-inflicted. If it is, help us to repent of whatever brought the suffering to us. Lead us to turn away from what has brought hurt to us and to turn toward you and toward better ways.

Help us third to see how our suffering marks us as human. Remind us that some things come to us because we are human beings. Protect us from a sense of privilege that tells us that it shouldn’t happen to us.

Having seen our suffering for what it is, help us to see past it to what it can lead us to.

Help us see that it can lead us to a closer walk with Jesus as we share in his suffering.

Help us see that it can lead us to a deeper faith in you as we learn you are with us in it all.

Help us see that it can lead us to a greater sense of community as we realize that we are all in this together.

We don’t want to suffer. But we will. When we do, raise us up so we can see past it to the better people we can be on the other side of it.

Amen.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

A Prayer for Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Thirty-Second Day of Easter

O God,

Raise us up so we can see past our people.

We tend to be with and to talk with
people who see things like we do.
We sit around confirming each
other’s perspectives and opinions.

Help us reach out beyond our circle
of relationships. Help us expand our
circle of friends. Help others do the
same and include us when they do.

Let us see perspectives and understand
opinions that differ from ours. Let us
appreciate and embrace people whose
background and experiences have formed
them to see things differently than we do.

Let others appreciate and embrace us.

Raise us up so we can see past our people.

Expand the parameters of
what constitutes “our people.”

Amen.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

A Prayer for Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Thirty-First Day of Easter

O God,

Raise us up so we can see past our present.

Help us trust in the great future
that you are bringing about.

Help us be drawn forward by that
great future so that we live in hope.

But don’t let our trust and hope
in your great future cause us to
wish we weren’t in our present.

Don’t let us wish our lives away.

Instead, use our trust and hope in
your great future to inspire us to live
fully and freely right here and right now.

Raise us up so we can see past our present.

Then, having seen past it, let us see it
with new eyes so we can live well in it.

Amen.

Monday, April 25, 2016

A Prayer for Monday, April 25, 2016

Thirtieth Day of Easter

O God,

Raise us up so we can
see past our wants.

Help us know the difference
between our needs and our desires.

Thank you

for food to eat,
for water to drink,
for clothes to wear, and
for places to live.

Please continue to give them to
us. Help us not to fret over them.

Don’t let us spend our lives in pursuit
of things that can never satisfy us.

Free us from the curse
of always wanting more.

Protect us from focusing on our wants when
so many people struggle with their needs.
Help us help them in whatever ways we can.

Help us to be

content,
grateful, and
generous.

Amen.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

A Prayer for Sunday, April 24, 2016

Fifth Sunday of Easter

O God,

Raise us up so we can
see beyond ourselves.

As we worship,
let us focus on

you,

and not on ourselves.

As we live,
let us focus on

others,

and not on ourselves.

Amen.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

A Prayer for Saturday, April 23, 2016

Twenty-Eighth Day of Easter

O God,

Raise up so we can
see past our pride.

We are so easily offended.

We take things so personally.

We’re so prone to value protecting
our ego over everything else.

Help us to be so secure in you
(and secure enough in ourselves)
that we are able to value other
perspectives and experiences
without feeling threatened.

Help us not to require agreement
as the basis for a relationship.

Help us instead to value, respect,
and love each other so we can be
safely vulnerable with one another.

Amen.

Friday, April 22, 2016

A Prayer for Friday, April 22, 2016

Twenty-Seventh Day of Easter

O God,

Raise us up so we can
see beyond our stereotypes.

Help us not to think in generalizations.

Whenever we start to
think ,“All of them …”,

stop us.

Help us get to the point where
the thought never begins to form.

Help us instead to take the time to
get to know individuals as individuals.

Help us practice the grace that lets us know,
appreciate, and embrace who each person is.

And as we get to know each other,
fill us with love for one another.

Amen.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

A Prayer for Thursday, April 21, 2016

Twenty-Sixth Day of Easter

O God,

Raise us up so we can
see past our fears.

When we face a legitimate threat,
help us deal with it honestly,
realistically, and courageously.

Keep us clear-eyed and level-headed
so we can know what we should
do to deal with the situation.

Help us guard against concocted
or exaggerated threats. Give us
wisdom not to fear what doesn’t
threaten us and not to listen to
voices that encourage us to do so.

Let

hope be our constant perspective,
trust our consistent mindset, and
peace our continuous attitude.

Amen.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

A Prayer for Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Twenty-Fifth Day of Easter

O God,

Raise us up so we can
see past our opinions.

Help us see the value
of other perspectives.

Help us put being loving
ahead of being right.

Help us value relationships
over winning arguments.

Help us seek the truth of
a matter rather than evidence
to bolster our position.

Raise us up so we can
see past our opinions.

Amen.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

A Prayer for Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Twenty- Fourth Day of Easter

O God,

Raise us up so we
can see past our past.

Help us acknowledge our past sins
so we can repent of them.

But don’t let us wallow in them.

Help us recall our past mistakes
so we can learn from them.

But don’t let us dwell on them.

Help us remember our past blessings
so we can be grateful for them.

But don’t let us long for them.

Raise us up so we
can see past our past.

Help us live fully
in our present.

Amen.

Monday, April 18, 2016

A Prayer for Monday, April 18, 2016

Twenty-Third Day of Easter

O God,

Raise us up so we can see past the
obstacles that seem to block our way.

Raise us up so we can see past those
obstacles that try to prevent us

from loving as we should,
from forgiving as we should,
from trusting as we should, and
from hoping as we should.

Raise us up so we can see how to live
as Jesus told and showed us how to live.

Amen.

Sunday, April 17, 2016

A Prayer for Sunday, April 17, 2016

Fourth Sunday of Easter

O God,

We praise you that, because
Christ is risen and because
he sent the Holy Spirit to us,
we can hear his voice today.

Help us listen.

Let our lives show
that we are listening

to his words,
to his life,
to his death, and
to his resurrection.

Amen.

Saturday, April 16, 2016

A Prayer for Saturday, April 16, 2016

Twenty-First Day of Easter

O God,

So many people are
dying unnecessarily.

They are dying because of
choices other people are making,

choices motivated by

the quest for riches and
the quest for power.

So many people are

making choices,
pursuing policies, and
carrying out actions

that lead to death
and destruction.

Help us bear witness to life
in the midst of all this death.

Help us live in ways that
are motivated by a quest
for simplicity and service.

Help us advocate for

choices,
policies, and
actions

that lead to life.

Thank you that we
are alive in Christ.

Let the life we have
in him cause us to
pursue life for others.

Amen.

Friday, April 15, 2016

A Prayer for Friday, April 15, 2016

Twentieth Day of Easter

O God,

Thank you for the life we have
because Jesus is risen from the dead.

Thank you that in him, we are truly alive.

Let our lives show how alive we are in Christ.

Let our lives reveal

hope rather than despair,
trust rather than fear,
selflessness rather than selfishness,
love rather than apathy, and
defiance rather than resignation.

Thank you that we will live forever.

Thank you that are fully alive now.

Amen.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

A Prayer for Thursday, April 14, 2016

Nineteenth Day of Easter

O God,

Help us remember that to be
fully alive means to know you,

that to know you
means to know love,

and

that to know love means to be
committed to you above all else
and to be committed to others’
welfare more than to our own.

Amen.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

A Prayer for Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Eighteenth Day of Easter

O God,

Help us to live as people who
know the resurrected Christ.

Help us to live as people who
have been buried with him and
who have been raised to walk
in newness of life with him.

Help us to live as people for whom
neither death nor life hold any fear.

Help us to live as people who
are truly and wonderfully alive.

Amen.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

A Prayer for Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Seventeenth Day of Easter

O God,

Thank you that
we are alive.

Thank you that in Christ,
we are truly alive.

Help us live this life
for all it’s worth.

Especially help us
live in ways that are

guided by,
empowered by, and
saturated in

love.

Thank you that in Christ
we know you, and that in
knowing you we know love.

Let your love
enliven us.

Let your love in
us enliven others.

Amen.

Monday, April 11, 2016

A Prayer for Monday, April 11, 2016

Sixteenth Day of Easter

O God,

For things that give us hope, like

the blooming of a flower,
the birth of a baby,
the forgiving of a wrong,
the restoring of a relationship, or
the acceptance of a difference,

we give you thanks.

Amen.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

A Prayer for Sunday, April 10, 2016

Third Sunday of Easter

O God,

We praise you because you
raised Jesus from the dead.

We praise you because you
will raise us from the dead.

We praise you because you
have raised us from the dead.

We praise you for the
everlasting life that will be ours.

We praise you for the
eternal life that is already ours.

We ask you to help us die
knowing death can’t hold us.

We ask you to help us live
knowing we are truly alive.

Amen.

Saturday, April 9, 2016

A Prayer for Saturday, April 9, 2016

Fourteenth Day of Easter

O God,

Help us live first for you, second for others, and last for self.

Help us do it all simultaneously.

Then, our lives will be as whole as they can be.

In such living is peace.

And we will praise you for it …

Amen.

Friday, April 8, 2016

A Prayer for Friday, April 8, 2016

Thirteenth Day of Easter

O God,

We praise you because

Christ is risen.

We praise you that,
because Christ is risen,
we can know him and
be known by him.

Help us live in constant communion
and communication with

our risen Lord.

Help us learn from him what
it means to live the eternal life
and to walk in newness of life.

Let our lives show
that we really know

the risen Lord.

Amen.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

A Prayer for Thursday, April 7, 2016

Twelfth Day of Easter

O God,

Because Christ is
alive, he is with us.

Because we are alive in
Christ, we are with him.

Because we are alive together
in Christ, we are with each other.

Thank you for the blessed
community of the resurrection.

Thank you

that Christ is with us,
that we are with Christ, and
that we are with each other.

Help us to live so that others
will want to become part of
the resurrection community.

Help us to live so that they will
see what it is to be truly alive.

Amen.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

A Prayer for Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Eleventh Day of Easter

O God,

Help us live in light of the
difference resurrection makes.

Some days we must grieve,
but when we grieve,
let us grieve with hope.

Some days we must suffer,
but when we suffer,
let us suffer with trust.

Some days we must lose,
but when we lose,
let us lose with grace.

Some day we must die,
but when we die,
let us die with joy.

Help us live and die in light of
the difference resurrection makes.

Amen.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

A Prayer for Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Tenth Day of Easter

O God,

We praise you that

we have died with you,
we have been raised with you, and
we live in you.

We praise you that

we will die in you,
we will be raised in you, and
we will live with you.

Amen.

Monday, April 4, 2016

A Prayer for Monday, April 4, 2016

Ninth Day of Easter

O God,

Fill us with the hope that the
resurrection of Jesus makes possible.

Fill us with the hope

that gets us through
the hardest times,

that keeps us aware that you
are working your purposes out, and

that knows that death
does not have the last word.

Fill us with the hope that the
resurrection of Jesus makes possible.

Amen.

Sunday, April 3, 2016

A Prayer for Sunday, April 3, 2016

Second Sunday of Easter

O God,

We praise you that we are
healed by Jesus’ wounds.

We ask you to offer healing
to others through ours.

Amen.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

A Prayer for Saturday, April 2, 2016

Seventh Day of Easter

O God,

Open us up to the
vast possibilities of life.

Help us have an
eternal perspective.

Help us see our time-
bound lives here as caught
up in all you are doing in,
beyond, and outside of time.

Even as we know that there
is more to it all than we can
possibly understand, help us
believe that our lives are part
of your great eternal purposes.

Open us up to the
vast possibilities of life.

Don’t let us settle for
less than the eternal . . .

Amen.

Friday, April 1, 2016

A Prayer for Friday, April 1, 2016

Sixth Day of Easter

O God,

Thank you for the ongoing gift
of air that lets us keep on living.

Thank you for the ongoing gift of your
Spirit that lets us keep on living fully.

Don’t let us take either gift for granted.

Don’t let us take living for granted.

Help us to live fully, freely, and completely.

Amen.