A Prayer for Sunday, April 16, 2017

Easter Sunday

O God,

Praise

Praise fills us over the resurrection of Jesus.

We praise you because Christ the Lord is risen.

We praise you because in him, we have been raised to walk in newness of life.

We praise you because in him, we will be raised to be whole and complete for eternity.

Wonder

Wonder fills us over the resurrection of Jesus.

We gaze in wonder at the empty tomb.

We reflect in wonder on the risen Jesus.

We live in wonder at your amazing grace.

Life

Life fills us because of the resurrection of Jesus.

We live here and now.

We will live there and then.

We live in trust, in hope, and in love.

Let it all be, Lord. Let it all be.

Amen.

A Prayer for Saturday, April 15, 2017

Holy Saturday

O God,

Jesus is in the tomb.

His followers sit and stare, grief-stricken, dazed, frightened.

They think it’s over. They think joy and hope have died.

We know it isn’t; we know they haven’t.  We’re just waiting for tomorrow’s celebration. So it’s hard for us to put ourselves in their place.

And yet …

sometimes a loss hits us so hard that all we can do is sit and stare, grief-stricken, dazed, frightened; sometimes it seems that joy and hope have died, and that they have no chance to rise again.

So maybe we do know something of how they felt.

“Sunday’s coming,” we say.

But sometimes it doesn’t come tomorrow. Sometimes we have to wait a long time.

Give us grace to live faithfully, when we must, in the darkness of Saturday.

Amen.

A Prayer for Friday, April 14, 2017

Good Friday

O God,

We praise you because

Jesus died on the cross for us.

We ask you to give us

grace to die with him.

Help us

take up our cross and follow Jesus,

give up our lives so we can find them, and

die to self so we can live in Christ and for others.

Amen.

A Prayer for Thursday, April 13, 2017

Maundy Thursday

O God,

We have to eat.

When we do, remind us that Jesus is at table with us.

We often eat with other people.

When we do, remind us that we are to love them like Jesus loves us.

Let our meals remind us of the community of which we are part: Jesus, other people, and us. Thank you that Jesus teaches us, by word and example, what it means to love.

Thank you for the privilege of giving ourselves up for each other. Help us take advantage of it.

Amen.

A Prayer for Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Wednesday of Holy Week

O God,

Help us live memorable lives.

Let us be remembered for

our service,

our sacrifice,

our generosity, and

our compassion.

Whenever people speak of us, let

those be the qualities they talk about.

Let them know that we lived those

ways because we followed Jesus.

Amen.

A Prayer for Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Tuesday of Holy Week

O God,

Thank you for Jesus’ words that the Gospels give us. They no doubt report only a fraction of what he said, but we assume they share the ones we most need to hear and heed.

The few words we have are evidently more than we can handle.

Forgive us for not taking Jesus’ words seriously enough. Help us do better. Help us dedicate ourselves to reading, studying, understanding, and believing them. Help us be who Jesus teaches us to be. Help us do what Jesus teaches us to do.

Jesus is our teacher. Let us learn from him.

Jesus is our Lord. Let us obey him.

Jesus is our life. Let us live in him.

Amen.

A Prayer for Monday, April 10, 2017

Monday of Holy Week

O God,

If we examine our lives closely, we may find that our priorities and perspectives are in disarray.

We may find, for example, that we put other things ahead of loving and serving other people.

We may find that our pursuit of success, our interest in self-preservation, and our desire for power get in the way of our bearing witness to the One who came not to be served, but to serve. They may get in the way of other people coming to you.

Give us priorities and perspectives that reflect those of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Help us worship you and follow Jesus in ways that will lead us to think of others before we think of ourselves.

Amen.

A Prayer for Sunday, April 9, 2017

Palm Sunday

O God,

Give us courage to follow Jesus into Jerusalem.

He goes there to accomplish his mission.

He goes there to finish his work.

He goes there to accept his cross.

He goes there to die.

Today, we join those who sang praises to him as he entered Jerusalem. When they praised him as the one “who comes in the name of the Lord,” they were saying more than they knew they were saying.

They were saying more than they meant to say.

 They were saying other than they meant to say.

We should know. We should know that Jesus was a King

who served,

who sacrificed,

who gave, and

who died.

Help us follow our King.

Help us follow him into Jerusalem.

Help us follow him to the cross.

Help us take up our cross and follow him.

Help us give up our lives.

Help us practice love and grace through 

service, 

self-emptying, and 

self-sacrifice.

They laid down palm branches and their garments before him.

Help us lay down our lives for him.

Amen.

A Prayer for Friday, March 17, 2017

Green, Pt. 1 (15^th day of Lent)

O God,

Forgive us for those times when

we’ve been green with envy.

Help us be as grateful for the blessings

others have as we are for those we have.

Make us more conscious of those who have less

than we have than we are of those who have more.

Make us more interested in sharing what

we do have than in acquiring what we don’t.

Amen.

A Prayer for Thursday, March 16, 2017

Maybe (14^th day of Lent)

O God,

Today—

Maybe I’ll win, maybe I’ll lose.

Maybe I’ll succeed, maybe I’ll fail.

Maybe I’ll know, maybe I’ll wonder.

Maybe I’ll remember, maybe I’ll forget.

Maybe I’ll trust, maybe I’ll doubt.

Maybe I’ll give, maybe I’ll take.

If today’s like every other day 

so far, maybe I’ll do all of it.

Help me embrace all of it.

Help me love in all of it.

Amen.

A Prayer for Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Mobile, Pt. 5 (13^th day of Lent)

O God,

Give us mobile lives.

It’s good to get to go places. Help us seek

and take advantage of opportunities to do so.

But I mean more than that.

Give us lives that are always on the go.

Give us lives that are always seeking and

embracing new experiences and perspectives.

Don’t let us get stuck in our ways, in our places,

in our assumptions, or in our viewpoints.

Help us keep moving and growing.

Amen. 

A Prayer for Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Mobile, Pt. 4 (12th day of Lent)

O God,

Give us mobile joy.

Give us joy we can carry

from one situation to another.

Give us joy that springs from our awareness

that you love us, accept us, forgive us, and sustain us.

Give us joy that is deeply rooted in trust

that you are working your purposes out and

that everything is going to be all right someday.

Give us joy that is so real we can carry it from

a happy moment into a devastating crisis.

Give us joy we know is there whether we are

laughing uncontrollably or sobbing inconsolably.

Amen.

A Prayer for Monday, March 13, 2017

Mobile, Pt. 3 (11^th day of Lent)

O God,

Give us mobile compassion.

It’s easy to have compassion toward

our family and our friends—toward

those who are closest to or most like us.

It’s not so easy to have compassion toward

those who are strangers or who we perceive,

rightly or wrongly, to be our enemies.

Give us compassion that moves easily

between individuals, groups, and situations.

Also give us compassion that

moves from attitude to action.

Amen.

A Prayer for Sunday, March 12, 2017

Second Sunday in Lent

O God,

Draw us nearer to you.

Help us know you as well as we can.

As we grow nearer to you, draw us nearer to ourselves.

Help us know ourselves as well as we can.

As we grow nearer to you and to ourselves, draw us nearer to others.

Help us know others as well as we can.

As we grow nearer to you, to ourselves, and to others, help us grow in love.

Amen.

A Prayer for Saturday, March 11, 2017

Mobile, Pt. 2 (Tenth day of Lent)

O God,

Give us mobile hope.

Give us hope that moves

easily from us to others.

When things seem okay

for us,

give us hope that they’ll be okay

for everybody.

When things seem bad

for us,

give us hope that they’ll be better

for everybody.

When things seem great

for us,

give us hope that they’ll be great

for everybody.

In other words, give us hope

that, when we have it for

ourselves, immediately becomes

hope that we have for others.

Don’t let our hope be just

about us.

Let it move right on over to

other people.

Amen.

A Prayer for Friday, March 10, 2017

Mobile, Pt. 1 (Ninth day of Lent)

O God,

Give us mobile faith.

Give us faith that moves easily

from one situation to another.

Give us faith that is strong and useful

in good and bad times,

in happy and sad times, and

in easy and difficult times.

Give us faith that always focuses on you

but that adapts to whatever we encounter.

Help us always take our faith with us.

Never let us leave our faith behind.

Amen.

A Prayer for Thursday, March 9, 2017

Let, Pt. 3 (Eighth day of Lent)

O God,

Help us know when to let up.

Help us recognize situations when

we need to keep trying, but we

don’t need to try quite so hard.

Help us learn the art of making a

determined effort with a light touch.

Amen.

A Prayer for Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Let, Pt. 2 (Seventh day of Lent)

O God,

Sometimes we need to let it be.

Sometimes we need to let it lie.

Sometimes we need to do nothing—

and nothing is hard for us to do.

Help us know when it’s time to back

away and watch from a distance.

Help us know when it’s time to trust you,

and even to trust others, to deal with it.

Don’t let us use this prayer as an

excuse not to engage, to confront,

and to intervene if we should.

Still, help us know when

we need to let it be.

Give us courage and faith to do so.

Amen.

A Prayer for Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Let (Pt. 1)

O God,

Sometimes we need to let go.

Help us know when it’s time.

We want to do what we can;

we want to do what we should.

But there comes a time when we’ve

done all we can and should do.

When that time comes, give us grace and

strength to let it go and trust it all to you.

Come to think of it—let us already be

letting it go and trusting it all to you even

while we’re doing all we can and should.

Amen.

A Prayer for Monday, March 6, 2017

Reflect, Pt. 3 (Fifth Day of Lent)

O God,

We are flawed mirrors.

We are marred, dull, and cracked.

Nevertheless, as we receive

your love,

your mercy, and

your grace,

let us reflect them onto

everyone around us.

Let our imperfect reflection of you

match up well with their broken lives

so they can know that you love them.

Let the strange angles at which our marred lives

reflect you cause your love to shine into the

cracks, corners, and  hidden places of their lives.

Amen.