A Prayer for Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Courage

O God,

Thank you for people

who have the courage to

stand up for what is right.

Help us have the courage

to follow their lead.

Amen.

A Prayer for Monday, January 30, 2017

Questions

O God,

Why are people so driven by the quest for power?

How can people think cruelty is good?

Why do people let sexism and racism rule them?

Why do people think they can return to what never was?

How can people be so full of hate?

I wonder how people can be those ways.

I especially wonder how Christians can be those ways.

How can I respond?

What can I do?

How can I be truly Christian?

Amen.

A Prayer for Sunday, January 29, 2017

The Lord's Day

O God,

As we worship you for sending your Son,

help us remember that he came

to serve,

to give,

to help,

to love, and

to die.

Help us worship you and follow him by living

the same ways and doing the same things.

Help us give ourselves up out of

love for you and love for people.

Amen.

A Prayer for Saturday, January 28, 2017

While

O God,

While we wait, let us work.

While we worry, let us trust.

While we wonder, let us learn.

While we hurt, let us help.

While others hate, let us love.

Amen.

A Prayer for Friday, January 27, 2017

Love

O God,

Help us say what needs to be said

and do what needs to be done.

Let us say what we say and do what we do

because we love you and love people.

Let love be behind every word

we speak and every action we take.

Let love be in everything we

say and everything we do.

Let love result from everything

we say and everything we do.

Amen.

A Prayer for Thursday, January 26, 2017

Until

O God,

Thank you for

green pastures

and

still waters.

But don’t let us be

content with them

until

everybody else

has them, too.

Amen.

A Prayer for Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Because

O God,

Let us

think what we think,

feel what we feel,

say what we say,

and

do what we do

because

we love you

and

love people.

Amen.

A Prayer for Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Great

O God,

Help us do great things.

Help us

show great love,

offer great mercy,

practice great kindness,

and

offer great service.

Help us present a great antithesis

to the great arrogance,

the great pride,

the great selfishness,

and

the great callousness

that want to be the norm.

Amen.

A Prayer for Monday, January 23, 2017

Compassion

O God,

Fill our hearts with compassion so

when we see a hurt we want to heal it,

when we see a need we want to meet it, and

when we see an injustice we want to correct it.

Help us to act on our compassion by

joining with others to do what we can,

or by acting alone if we must.

Let the compassion of Christ form

our thoughts and guide our motives.

Let our actions reflect those

Christian thoughts and motives.

Amen.

A Prayer for Sunday, January 22, 2017

The Lord’s Day

O God,

We want to worship you with integrity.

We want to call on you because

we truly believe in you.

We want to come before you because

we desire to submit to your will.

We want to come before you because

we humbly seek to live the way you desire.

So help us worship you with integrity.

Let humble seeking and submission that lead

to humble service mark our worship of you.

Amen.

A Prayer for Saturday, January 21, 2017

Stand

O God,

Help us stand for what’s right.

Help us stand for what Jesus’ life and

teachings reveal to be right in your eyes.

Especially help us stand for what’s

right for those who won’t experience

justice unless we stand for them.

Help us stand strong, whatever the

cost to us, for what’s really right.

Amen.

A Prayer for Friday, January 20, 2017

Inauguration

O God,

May the incoming President, Vice-President,

and members of their administration

see themselves as servants,

care more for others than for self,

work to foster the greater good,

care deeply about liberty and justice,

temper power with humility, and

be motivated by empathy and compassion.

Amen.

A Prayer for Thursday, January 19, 2017

Choose

O God,

We make many choices every day.

When we have to choose

between mercy and vengeance,

between greed and generosity,

between concern and apathy,

between selfishness and selflessness,

between despair and hope,

between ignorance and knowledge,

between fear and faith, and

between hate and love,

let our choices be guided

by Christ’s example and                  

by the Spirit’s presence.

Amen.

A Prayer for Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Turn

O God,

Help us turn

toward what is helpful and

away from what is harmful,

toward what is productive and

away from what is destructive,

and

toward what is genuine and

away from what is deceptive.

Amen.

A Prayer for Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Between/Beneath/Beyond

O God,

Help us

read between the lines,

see beneath the surface, and

look beyond the apparent.

Help us

deal with what is,

understand why it is, and

envision what it could be.

Help us

live with determined realism,

with broad perspective, and

with active hope.

Amen.

A Prayer for Monday, January 16, 2017

Change

O God,

Change can be good.

Or change can be bad.

Give us wisdom to

know the difference.

Give us grace to embrace

change that should be embraced.

Give us courage to resist

change that should be resisted.

Help us work for change

that is constructive and helpful.

Help us work against change

that is destructive and harmful.

Amen.

A Prayer for Sunday, January 15, 2017

The Lord’s Day

O God,

As we worship you today,

may we praise you

for who you are,

for all you have done,

for all you do, and

for all you will do.

As we worship you today,

help us remember

who we were,

who we are, and

who we will be.

Help us praise you for

the forgiveness,

the help, and

the hope

we have from you

through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

A Prayer for Saturday, January 14, 2017

Steps

O God,

Help us

listen to each other,

hear each other,

accept each other,

embrace each other,

and

love each other.

Amen.

A Prayer for Friday, January 13, 2017

Together

O God,

The solution to one of Wheel of Fortune’s puzzles last night was “Cooperation and Teamwork.”

Those practices would help us solve many of our puzzles, too.

Help us learn to work together to help our faith communities, our families, our local communities, our nation, and our world address what needs to be addressed.

Help us remember that you are working and cooperating with us, too. Keep us open to your leadership. Let all of our actions be guided by your grace and love.

Amen.

A Prayer for Thursday, January 12, 2017

Friends

O God,                                                    

For friends we’ve loved and lost

and

for friends we love and still have,

we give you thanks.

Amen.

A Prayer for Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Ease

O God,

Thank you for ease when it comes.

Thank you when it all comes together without much work or stress.

But don’t let us overvalue ease. Don’t let us seek to do only what comes easily. Don’t let us abandon projects that are worth doing or relationships that are worth having just because they become difficult or frustrating.

Help us remember that most things that are worth doing and most relationships that are worth having are challenging. Grant us determination and tenacity when we need them.

Still, thank you for ease when it comes …

Amen.

A Prayer for Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Free

O God,

As Christians,

we are free.

As Americans,

we are free.

Let us see and use our

freedom as an opportunity

 to love,

 to embrace,

to understand,

to heal, and

to help.

Amen.

A Prayer for Monday, January 9, 2017

Share

O God,

Thank you for the grace

we have received,

are receiving, and

will receive.

Let your grace fill us so much that

we reflexively share it with others.

Help us gladly accept and

embrace other people.

Help us gladly receive our acceptance

and embrace by other people.

Thank you for sharing your grace with us.

Help us share your grace with others.

Amen.

A Prayer for Sunday, January 8, 2017

The Lord’s Day

O God,

We gather today as those who have been baptized into Christ, as those who have died with him and been raised to new life in him.

We praise you that the Son of God identified with us in our sinfulness when he was baptized. We praise you that he took our sins upon himself when he was crucified.

Help us as your church live in the world as the body of Christ. Help us give ourselves up as Jesus gave himself up. Help us lay our lives down as Jesus laid his life down.

Help us immerse ourselves in the world’s suffering so we can participate in what you are doing through Christ to redeem it.

Help us live as those who have been baptized into Christ’s death and been raised to new life in him.

Amen.

A Prayer for Saturday, January 7, 2017

Perspective

O God,

As we reflect on the past, help us

remember the grace we have received.

As we consider the future, help us

anticipate the grace we will receive.

As we live in the present, help us

realize the grace we are receiving.

Amen.

A Prayer for Friday, January 6, 2017

Epiphany

O God,

Thank you for revealing

yourself in Jesus to the world.

Thank you for revealing your

love, grace, and mercy in him.

Help us consider how well people can

see your love, grace, and mercy in our

attitudes, perspectives, words, and actions.

Lead us to seek Jesus more so we

can grow in our knowledge of him.

Then let our increased knowledge of

him cause us to reveal him more

clearly and accurately to the world.

Make us wise enough to seek

him, to follow him, to serve him,

and to bear witness to him.

Amen.

A Prayer for Thursday, January 5, 2017

Twelfth Day of Christmas

O God,

Where there is hate, let us practice love;

where there is rejection, let us practice acceptance;

where there is selfishness, let us practice service;

where there is fear, let us practice faith;

where there is despair, let us practice hope;

where there is vengeance, let us practice mercy;

where there is conflict, let us practice peace;

where there is greed, let us practice generosity.

Amen.

A Prayer for Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Eleventh Day of Christmas

O God,

Let us participate in what

Jesus came to bring about.

Let us live in your kingdom

as we wait for it to come.

Let us live

in peace until all is peace,

in wholeness until all is whole,

in love until all is love, and

in unity until all is one.

Let

our lives,

our relationships,

our attitudes,

our perspectives,

our priorities,

our words, and

our actions

bear witness to what

will one day be.

Amen.

A Prayer for Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Tenth Day of Christmas

O God,

Thank you for being present in Jesus.

Thank you for being present in the Holy Spirit.

Thank you for being present in the church, which is the body of Christ.

May people know who we are—may they know who you are—by our love.

Amen.

A Prayer for Monday, January 2, 2017

Ninth Day of Christmas

O God,

As you are with us

in Christ,

help us be with each other

in Christ.

Help us

love each other,

serve each other,

forgive each other, and

sacrifice for each other.

Help us be present with and for each other

in whatever ways we need each other to be.

Amen.

A Prayer for Sunday, January 1, 2017

Eighth Day of Christmas

O God,

The birth of Jesus reminds us that you do surprising

things as you work your great purposes out.

Let our celebration of his birth remind us

that you are still working your purposes out,

and that you still do so in surprising ways.

Give us strong faith that includes

a healthy sense of wonder and mystery.

Help us be alert to what you are doing, rather

than blinded by what we expect you to do.

Amen.