Light/Shadows
O God,
This week will be filled with wonder and mystery; it is possible that the light created by such realities will brighten everything we experience.
This week will also have its share of troubles and tragedies; it is possible that the shadows cast by such realities will darken everything we experience.
It is most likely, however, that we will live with and in both the light and the shadows.
Keep us from being so overcome by the shadows that we fail to see the light; keep us from being so captivated by the light that we fail to live into the shadows.
Amen.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
A Prayer for Sunday, April 29, 2012
The Lord’s Day
As we today practice the seemingly contradictory but in fact compatible acts of Sabbath, our rest in you, and liturgy, our work of worship of you, help us to practice the artful discipline of living in both of those ways simultaneously in our daily lives.
Amen.
As we today practice the seemingly contradictory but in fact compatible acts of Sabbath, our rest in you, and liturgy, our work of worship of you, help us to practice the artful discipline of living in both of those ways simultaneously in our daily lives.
Amen.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
A Prayer for Saturday, April 28, 2012
Open
O God,
Open our eyes to the beauty and wonder of your creation;
open our eyes also to the harm we are doing to your world.
Open our ears to the melodies of animal and human singers;
open our ears also to the cries of the oppressed and the brutalized.
Open our mouths to sing your praise and to speak encouraging words;
open our mouths also to protest injustice and to speak for the disenfranchised.
Open our hearts to express our gratitude to you for our blessings;
open our hearts also to feel the pain and suffering of other people.
Open our spirits to worship you according to our best light;
open our spirits also to love those who worship you according to another light.
Open our lives to the mystery, wonder, and majesty of it all;
open our lives also to the confusion, conflict, and corruption in it all.
Amen.
O God,
Open our eyes to the beauty and wonder of your creation;
open our eyes also to the harm we are doing to your world.
Open our ears to the melodies of animal and human singers;
open our ears also to the cries of the oppressed and the brutalized.
Open our mouths to sing your praise and to speak encouraging words;
open our mouths also to protest injustice and to speak for the disenfranchised.
Open our hearts to express our gratitude to you for our blessings;
open our hearts also to feel the pain and suffering of other people.
Open our spirits to worship you according to our best light;
open our spirits also to love those who worship you according to another light.
Open our lives to the mystery, wonder, and majesty of it all;
open our lives also to the confusion, conflict, and corruption in it all.
Amen.
Friday, April 27, 2012
A Prayer for Friday, April 27, 2012
Think
O God,
Help us to think enough about what goes on in our lives today that we can get below the surface.
At the same time, help us not to think so much about what goes on in our lives today that we get bogged down in the quicksand or disoriented by the shifting sands and plates that lie beneath events.
Instead, help us to find your firm and stable place where we can stand; indeed, help us to find you who are our Rock and cause us to stand on you.
May all of our thinking lead us to you.
Amen.
O God,
Help us to think enough about what goes on in our lives today that we can get below the surface.
At the same time, help us not to think so much about what goes on in our lives today that we get bogged down in the quicksand or disoriented by the shifting sands and plates that lie beneath events.
Instead, help us to find your firm and stable place where we can stand; indeed, help us to find you who are our Rock and cause us to stand on you.
May all of our thinking lead us to you.
Amen.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
A Prayer for Thursday, April 26, 2012
Beyond
Today, O God, help us to move a little bit more beyond
respect,
tolerance,
acceptance,
understanding,
and
patience—
and a little bit more toward
love.
Amen.
Today, O God, help us to move a little bit more beyond
respect,
tolerance,
acceptance,
understanding,
and
patience—
and a little bit more toward
love.
Amen.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
A Prayer for Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Help us today to love you more than we love
our traditions,
our convictions,our opinions,
our positions,
our theologies.
Help us today to get the second thing second, O Lord.
Help us to love other people more than we love those things, too.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
A Prayer for Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Hospitality
Thank you, O God, for the gift of hospitality, whether we are on the receiving or on the giving end of it.
Thank you for those who welcome, who receive, and who help us.
Thank you for those whom we welcome, receive, and help.
Today, please expand our definition and our practice of hospitality that we might accept it from unexpected sources and that we might offer it to unexpected persons.
Today, please expand our definition and our practice of hospitality that it might go beyond being polite to being sacrificial.
Amen.
Thank you, O God, for the gift of hospitality, whether we are on the receiving or on the giving end of it.
Thank you for those who welcome, who receive, and who help us.
Thank you for those whom we welcome, receive, and help.
Today, please expand our definition and our practice of hospitality that we might accept it from unexpected sources and that we might offer it to unexpected persons.
Today, please expand our definition and our practice of hospitality that it might go beyond being polite to being sacrificial.
Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)