Prayer for August 5-11, 2012 

Sermon Text: John 6:24-35

That our whole life will be defined by your presence

Jesus, we so often seek You only for that which seems urgent to us in the moment: food, drink, rest, relief from pain.

You respond to our daily needs with generosity, but You offer much more, beginning with an enduring walk in your company as your friend and coworker.

You give us your own life and invite us to trust in You at all times and in everything, to find our nourishment and energy in You, to find enduring satisfaction in You, to let our whole life be defined and enriched by your presence.

We have discovered, indeed, that You are our True Source.  There is no satisfaction apart from your presence.  You give life each day and You give the life of eternity.

We thank and praise You with hearts and hands lifted in joy.  Amen.

I have posted early because Lorraine and I will be in Honduras, with Rev. Edward Lavaire and his wife, Karla (who are from Honduras), from July 31 to August 9.  This trip includes both sightseeing and ministry.  Please pray for us as we travel.  Sharon Baker-Johnson is preaching at St. Nicolai in my absence.

Prayer for July 29-August 4, 2012 

Sermon Text: John 6:1-21

That we may join You in providing for your people

Christ Jesus, we think, so often, that we do not have adequate resources to address the needs that confront us.  We look at our resources and hesitate.  We look at each other and shrug our shoulders.  We provide excuses for a course of inaction.

But You act with confidence in divine provision.  You act thankfully and in covenant with God with whom You share complete communion.  You offer abundance when we perceive scarcity.  You offer blessing even when we fail to act. 

Your generosity matches need so that the hungry are satisfied.  But You resist all of our efforts to grasp You and manipulate You for our own purposes.

Christ Jesus, You confront us in surprising ways and in surprising places.  Sometimes You come to us in the midst of our darkness and turmoil, and we are terrified in our failure to recognize You.  Then You speak peace to us, and we recognize and welcome You and enter the peace You offer.

Prepare us, Savior and Friend, to recognize your presence in each moment, and to join You in providing for your many people with your abundant resources.  Amen.

Prayer for July 22-28, 2012 

Sermon Text: 2 Samuel 7:1-14a

That our plans may be shaped by You

Generous God, it is so easy for us to get ahead of ourselves by assuming that You need something from us and that we are able to give it.  We unconsciously hope to fit You into our plans, plans that make us look wise, faithful, generous and successful to those around us.

We want to shape and control our relationship with You, even though You identify us as your own and give yourself freely to us.  Your desire for us is generous.  You want to give us many gifts.  You want to make us wise.  You want to make us fruitful and grant us enduring security in your presence.      

Help us to listen to you before we try to make plans for You.  Help us to receive your gifts with gladness.  Enable us to celebrate your presence with joy.  Forgive us when we fail to do these things.

God, we rejoice that in your wisdom and power, you have shaped the history of your covenant people.  Even now, You are shaping our history as a reservoir from which your many gifts may be released, broadly, throughout this world we inhabit.  You are good beyond compare!  Amen.

Prayer for July 15-21, 2012 

Sermon Text: 2 Samuel 6:1-19

That we may be free to respond to You without reserve

Almighty God, in the midst of our attempts to honor and serve You, and in the very center of our celebrations of your presence, we are sometimes stunned to silence and anger when unexpected disaster strikes in our midst.

Fear overtakes us.  Doubts arise.  Our worship is subdued.  Our service is offered in pain.  We want answers, explanations, but none are forthcoming.

After a time, when we realize that You continue to act in goodness toward diverse people, including many who would seem to stand outside of the community of faith, we take heart.  We turn to You and seek your presence.  We worship You with joy that is intensified by our prior losses.

God of all, free us to let go of ourselves in order to respond to You without reserve.  Free us from worrying about the assessment others would make of our faith, in order to be all and only for You.

Though some of us can no longer dance well, our hearts dance wildly because of our delight in You.  Amen.

Prayer for July 8-14, 2012 

Sermon Text: Mark 6:1-13

That we may faithfully respond to the radical challenge of your word

Jesus, at times we have been awed by your instruction, humbled by your wisdom, delighted to hear You speak to us through the scripture and the instruction of the church.

At other times, we respond as though we have known and understood You fully, and our familiarity with your word has led us to treat You and your instruction as unremarkable, uninspiring, and without authority for our lives.

Forgive us for such blind arrogance!

Open our minds to perceive clearly!  Enable us to hear the radical challenge of your word that makes great demands upon us while promising much.

Enable us to respond with bold faith.  Enable us to spread your word and practice your healing love in all of the places You set or send us.  We give ourselves to You in humility and joy.  Amen.