WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 27 – Friday

Matthew 25:14-30 (parallel: Luke 19:11-27)

     God of all things, remind us, daily, that we are stewards in your household. You have entrusted us with many things: earth and its great variety of resources, domestic and wild creatures, money, time, talents, gifts, and relationships. 

     We frequently forget that we are stewards and think of ourselves as outright owners. We claim all that we can grasp as our own. We do not think of your interests and your intention to create a world where all are blessed with adequate resources to meet their daily needs and all are enfolded in the embrace of communities of faith, compassion, creativity, peace, justice and joy.

     Enable us to invest the personal, material and spiritual resources that You entrust us with in ways that enhance your household and your realm. Give us courage so that we do not merely hide the resources You have provided because we are fearful that we may not use them well. 

     We want to be faithful in all things. Let your Spirit guide and energize us for wise stewardship. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 26 – Thursday

Genesis 1:1-2:25

     Everything is yours, O God. Everything is yours, for you have created it all, from chaos and nothingness, for your good pleasure.

     Everything is yours; but we say, “Mine! Mine! Mine!”  We claim many things, including land that is rich in resources, as our own. We forget that we are stewards in your household, stewards of the creation that You have assigned us to cultivate and name.

     Forgive us for rapacious exploitation of our created habitat. Forgive us for befouling air and water. Forgive us for turning fertile places into arid wastelands. Forgive us for exterminating myriads of creatures that display your great creativity. Forgive us for believing that we may do whatever we want with your creation.

     Heal our memories. Give us wisdom so that we may be wise stewards of the resources You have made available for our use. Enable us to nurture life and restore beauty. 

     Let us worship You with joy for the beauty, complexity, diversity and abundance of your creation. Your works are marvelous, O God! Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 25 – Wednesday

Luke 16:19-31

     God of mercy and compassion, forgive us for intentionally averting our eyes to the needs of others. Forgive us for our apathy. Forgive us for clutching our abundant resources as though we never have enough. Forgive us for living as though luxury and ease were our birthright. Forgive us for waiting for dramatic signs to impel us to act in neighborly ways toward our neighbors.

     Giver of vision, open our eyes so that we may truly see the depth of need that diminishes the lives of many people around us. Open our hearts to respond with compassion, friendship and solidarity. Open our purses, wallets, and bank accounts in order to share generously with those who suffer most.

     God, shape us into a people who feed the hunger and heal the agony of others now. Rouse us to action while the need is urgent. 

     We know the time is coming when You will judge all things and set them right. Help us to do what we can to put things right today. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 24 – Tuesday

Luke 12:31-21

     Wise God, sometimes we grasp for wealth and possessions so desperately that we do not see what fools we have made of ourselves. We do not see the extent to which we have cut ourselves off from our neighbors and from You and left ourselves isolated among our things.

     We have rationalized greed so thoroughly, that we can no longer see how the varieties of greed play themselves out in our lives. We are fully enmeshed in a culture that acts as though there is never enough. We allow no limits on our insatiable desires.  We want more and bigger and will go to great lengths to convince ourselves that more and bigger are genuine needs that we fully deserve.

     God! Break us free of our competitive greed! Break us free of the lies that wealth is our satisfaction and our protection. Break us free from the competition that pits us against our sisters, brothers and neighbors. Break us free of isolation and alienation in order to share generously and help build communities of mutual enrichment. 

     Wise God, lead us in paths of wisdom. Lead us out beyond ourselves for true communion with others. Lead us to your peaceable reign that is not built on competition and accumulation, but on your matchless grace. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 23 – Monday

Mark 10:17-31 (parallels: Matthew 19:16-30; Luke 18:18-30)

     God of all things, we are so enamored of wealth, so enmeshed in idolatry related to it, and so inclined to give preference to those who are wealthy, that we are shocked that Jesus tells someone to divest of all his wealth and give the proceeds to the poor in order to follow Jesus as a disciple.

     We have been conditioned to believe that the wealthy are most blessed and that they’ve earned their own way. We don’t want to see the ways that many of them have undermined the communities in which they live by withdrawing and hoarding the communities’ wealth or by trampling on the lives of their neighbors.

     We don’t, in fact, want to see our own wealth. We don’t want to admit our competitive hoarding and acknowledge the damage it does to our neighbors and neighborhoods, to our very selves and the planet.

     We are so slow to realize that participation in the community life of your followers makes us beneficiaries of all the resources for sharing that You have bequeathed to scattered communities that are one in Christ. 

     Enable us to divest as You direct us. Enable us to share, with joy, the abundance You provide. Help us to see that as we follow Christ closely, we are blessed beyond comprehension and competition. Amen.

Prayer for March 26-April 1, 2017 

Sermon Text: John 9:1-41

That we may rejoice with those who receive new sight

Light of the world, we rejoice that You are able to bring light to those who live in darkness. You are able to touch the eyes of the blind and give them vision. You are able to touch the minds of those who are spiritually blind and give them insight, understanding and faith.

We rejoice that You are healing our spiritual blindness and pray that You will make us ever more receptive to the light of your truth. Penetrate any doubts that remain within us about who You are and about the reign of liberation, healing and justice that You are bringing among us.

Enable us to rejoice with those to whom You give new sight and insight. Do not let doubt and questioning control our responses to them. 

Once we were blind, but now we can see. Expand our vision by your abundant mercy. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Fourth Sunday

Try to rest from all production, earning and spending. If, for some reason, you cannot do this on Sunday, attempt to do so on another day (or two solid half days) during the week. 

Enter whole-heartedly into worship. Celebrate friendship and simple pleasures.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 22 – Saturday

Matthew 18:21-35

     God of Mercy, we seek your mercy. We are lost without your mercy!

     Some days, we presume upon your mercy by acting in selfish and destructive ways while expecting to escape the consequences of our actions. Forgive us for such presumption.

     Other days, we are deeply conscious of the great gap between your holiness and our pitiful efforts at faithfulness, and we plead for your mercy, knowing we cannot pay our debts to You, knowing that our very lives are at stake. And you forgive in ways that exceed our wildest expectations. You restore us to favored places as your covenant partners.

     Yet, we turn around and refuse to act in merciful ways towards our neighbors. We hold all of their sins against them as a way to control and diminish them. We keep track of every personal offense and every dollar owed, as though all were written in a permanent ledger. We harden our hearts toward both silent and clearly voiced pleas for forgiveness. 

     Forgive us God! Transform us! Enable us to act in merciful ways, just as You have acted toward us. We cannot do so without your help, so we ask in humility and hope. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 21 – Friday

Mark 6:30-42 (parallels: Matthew 14:13-21; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15)

     God of Abundance, You who have provided so generously for us, deepen our trust in You. Help us neither to be apathetic toward nor daunted by the deep, persistent needs that we see around us. Help us not to resist when You call us to invest our resources to meet the needs of others.

     Help us to remember that You have resources that are not evident to us, and that You are able to release resources, in unforeseen ways, to respond to the real needs of people who hunger, thirst, seek clothing or shelter, and cry out in desperation for healing, rescue or liberation.  

     Fill us with your compassion. Liberate us from our limited vision that sees scarcity instead of opportunity. Enable us to serve others with gladness. Take our resources and multiply them in ways that serve your purpose of blessing, nourishing, strengthening and renewing many people. We ask in the name of Jesus who fed multitudes. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 20 – Thursday

Matthew 13:44-46

     God our Creator and Redeemer, enable us to discern what is of surpassing value as we live as citizens and stewards of your realm. Enable us to see through the false, empty promises that urge us, every day, to stake our present or future well-being in the purchase of some product, be it food, clothing, grooming supply, pill, electronic product, transportation, insurance, financial vehicle or any other item we might acquire to give us the illusion of health, security, or personal value and meaning.

     Help us to perceive our real needs and trust You to provide them. But help us to realize that You are the treasure that we most seek as we search for enduring satisfaction. You have made us for companionship with You, and everything we try to substitute for your presence and your reign in our lives is ultimately hollow and unfulfilling. 

     Forgive us for all the times we have looked in the wrong direction to quell the fears and satisfy the deep yearning within us. Help us to set aside everything that prevents us from embracing You, fully, and serving, gladly, as stewards of your wise reign among us. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 19 – Wednesday

Mark 12:41-44 (verses 38-40 provide additional context)

     Generous One, help us to give with deep gratitude and bold generosity to the work of your realm. Help us not to give for show, to have others think well of us, to compete for status, or to get our names attached to monuments to our own generosity.

     Enable us to desire your reign, so deeply, that we are willing and able to risk ourselves, to invest ourselves to the point of giving up even what we believe we need, and what we truly need, in order to enhance the witness and service of Christ’s church and minister in solidarity with the most vulnerable among us.

     Enable us to give gladly, and without being overly self-conscious about what we are doing. Enable us to give with discernment, so that the resources You have provided continue the forgiving, healing, liberating, renewing, reconciling work that Jesus did among us.

     Most days we seem far from it, but enable us to be all in for You. Open our hearts wide! Expand our vision! Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 18 – Tuesday

Mark 4:1-20 (parallels: Matthew 13:1-23, Luke 8:1-15)

     You who sow the seed of life broadly, enable us to respond to You with deep trust. Let our lives grow, blossom and produce fruit that points to your generous presence and provision in our lives.

     In spite of our history with You, and in spite of the myriad ways that You have provided for us and shown your faithfulness to us, we are still inclined to allow our lives to become tangled up in worry. We are easily deceived into believing that we need things that are nearly as ephemeral as the grass of the field. We cling to those things as though our life depended upon them, not You.

     Overcome the control that worry and delusion hold over our lives. Liberate us from anxiety and deceit. Forgive us for our paltry faith. Unleash your energizing Spirit within us in such ways that we produce abundant fruit for your realm and for your glory. 

     We want to be all yours and all for You. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 17 – Monday

Matthew 6:25-34

     God, our Provider, we confess that we are, indeed, people of little faith. In spite of our full refrigerators and pantries and easy access to more, we worry excessively about what we will eat. Some days the slightest pang of hunger makes us anxious. In spite of the fact that fresh water is available to most of us in abundance, we worry about what we will drink, unwilling to be satisfied with mere water even though it is the substance of our physical selves.  In spite of the fact that many of us have dressers and closets and storage bins full of clothing, we vainly worry about what we will wear.

     God, You have provided far more than we need! Yet, we are anxious. We never seem to have enough. And though our world is filled with people who long for a small portion of what we have, we convince ourselves that we deserve all that we have accumulated. We are reluctant to share. And we continue to worry as though we lived lives of great deprivation.

     Forgive us for our lack of trust. Forgive us for clinging to false images of scarcity and neediness that leave us anxious. Forgive us for our presumption. Forgive us for being slow to share in ways that help others to enjoy glad and fruitful lives. 

     Enable us to focus on your reign of justice and peace. Enable us to be faithful witnesses to the work of reconciliation You have done in Christ Jesus. Enable us to walk away from our anxiety and trust You enough to put your desire before our own. Amen.

Prayer for March 19-25, 2017
Sermon Text: John 4:1-42

That our spirit will touch the Spirit of God in truthful ways

Jesus, we rejoice that You speak to the deepest longings of our heart. You address us in the midst of our confusion, our pain and suffering. You know the ways that we have been sinned against and the ways that we have sinned. You know what we have lost and what we have slim hopes of finding. You do not turn from us because we lack religious credentials or live as social misfits, but You are willing to meet us where we are: by a small town well, in a big city office, in our homes, on the road, wherever we will allow You to get a word in edgewise, wherever we will pause to take You seriously.

During such pauses, new life begins to flow within us. During such pauses, You answer the unspoken yearning of our hearts. During such pauses, You transform our inner and outer worlds. During such pauses, You enable our spirit to touch the Spirit of God in truthful ways. 

We pause before You now. Speak new life to us. Let that new life flow like refreshing water into the lives of others. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Third Sunday

Try to rest from all production, earning and spending. If, for some reason, you cannot do this on Sunday, attempt to do so on another day (or two solid half days) during the week.  

Enter whole-heartedly into worship. Celebrate friendship and simple pleasures.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 16 – Saturday

Matthew 6:19-24

   Merciful God, we are accustomed to accumulating wealth and securing it, as well as we can, against corruption and theft. But we are never certain of the security of our resources and often live with deep anxiety about what we possess. 

     Break the powerful control that the false god, money, has in our lives. Allow us to escape into broad new spaces of freedom and joy.  Give us clear and healthy insight into your desire for us. Move us beyond accumulation that is based in greed and anxiety to sharing that is based in grateful and hopeful trust in You.

     Let the treasure we create be measured by lives of fruitful obedience and generosity. May we utilize the resources You have provided in order to bring help, healing and hope to others.  

     May everything we do reflect the fact that You are our only God, our only hope, our only joy. We love You with our whole being! Let that show in our daily lives. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS:LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 15 – Friday

Matthew 6:9-13

     God, You have forgiven us so much! You have acted with boundless mercy toward us. You have liberated us from our sins and spiritual bondage by your forgiveness. You have given us new life! 

     But we are reluctant to forgive, especially when it relates to forgiving the financial debts that are owed us. We are reluctant to release others from the control their debts give us over them. We are reluctant to release, permanently, what once was ours.

     Merciful One, give us hearts that are perpetually inclined toward forgiveness. Give us a spirit of liberality that allows us to let go of our possessions for the benefit of others, without desiring or exercising control over them. Give us such freedom and trust in You that we are energized for bold generosity with all that You have given to us.

     Let us be recognized as your people by our broad, persistent practice of forgiveness. We worship You with thanksgiving! Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 14 – Thursday

Ecclesiastes 5:10, Psalm 39:5-7

     More! More! More! O God! Our hearts crave more! Some of us earn large salaries. Some of us have hefty bank accounts. Some of us have extensive investments. Some of us can barely squeeze another thing into our homes. Some of us have expanded our storage to other places. But we want more!

     We are not satisfied, now or ever. We must have more! We have set our sights on increasing our earnings and our accumulated wealth. Some days we hardly know why. Some days we seem like pale shadows floating through life and trying to anchor ourselves to the wealth we have accumulated.

     Life in pursuit of wealth—life as accumulation—is increasingly meaningless. Some days our anxiety about wealth leaves us pacing and panting in anxiety. Some days it feels like our desire for more is causing us to disintegrate. Some days . . .

     Forgive us for our insatiable ache for more. Forgive us for the anxiety that drives us to amass far more than we need. Forgive us for failing to turn our eyes to You and trust in You. 

     Release us from this snare that we have walked into with eyes wide open. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 13 – Wednesday

Isaiah 58:1-12

     God of justice, enable us to be your people of justice! Enable us to reflect your righteousness in the ways that we relate to one another and in the ways that we respond to the most vulnerable people among us. Enable us to invest ourselves in caring for those who are unable to fend for themselves in a world of competition that assumes there is not enough for everyone.

     Do not let us deceive ourselves into believing that fasting and prayer and communal worship will bring us peace while we are competing violently with each other, practicing oppression, and turning a blind eye to those who are suffering around us.

     Forgive us!

     Remind us, daily, that You have made us and have provided abundantly for us. Remind us, daily, of your great love for all people. Prevent us from hoarding our resources as though our own selves and our own needs are all that we can see. Transform our hearts and open our hands to give with extravagant generosity. Enable us to practice thoughtful and bold hospitality. 

     As we act as agents of your care, guide us into your light, your healing, your peace and renewal. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 12 - Tuesday    

Proverbs 19:17, Matthew 25:31-46

     God of all things—Creator and Sustainer of all creation—we know that in an absolute sense You need nothing from us. You have no need or lack at all.

     But in mercy and grace, you have made many covenants and have identified yourself with specific people, especially the poor for whom Jesus showed such deep compassion. 

     Give us a heart for the poor that reflects Jesus’ heart. Open our eyes to see the extensive needs around us. Open our hearts for compassion, generosity, hospitality and friendship. Open our hands so we may share in ways that generate new possibilities for fruitful and joyful participation in the life of the community.

     We will lend gladly to You by giving of ourselves and our resources to the poor whom You love so much. Help us to do so in love and solidarity! Amen.

Prayer for March 12-18, 2017

Sermon Text: John 3:1-17

That our gaze may be constantly drawn to Jesus

Merciful God, we rejoice that You did not send the Son into the world in order to condemn it, but in order to save it. We rejoice that Jesus’ coming was motivated by love. We rejoice that You have drawn us close!

We have been so fearful of judgment, but your word gives us a measure of peace and hope. We have some sense of comfort in your presence.

Still … we admit that many days we are confused about Jesus’ teaching. We are confused about your reign and tend to think of it as relating to small slices of our lives instead of to all that is. We are confused about the presence of your Spirit. We often feel windblown or storm-tossed, but we do not know how to let the Spirit blow freshness into our lives and guide us into fruitful habits that bless others.

When we are inclined to slink around in the darkness, searching for answers, let the light of truth fall on Jesus in such a way that our gaze is constantly drawn to him and all our actions are taken in reference to his status as Exalted One. 

Even though we cannot express it adequately, all of our hope is in You. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 11 – Monday

Proverbs 18:11

     O God--You who would be our Shield and Fortress--forgive us for convincing ourselves that our accumulated resources provide us enduring security. Forgive us for trusting in our wealth instead of in You. Forgive us for allowing our wealth to create barriers that prevent us from knowing You deeply and keep us from knowing our neighbors and sharing your gifts with gladness. Forgive us for constantly grasping for what we really do not need.  

     Enable us to set our hearts on You. Enable us to be content with the daily gifts by which You sustain us. Enable us to imagine the world in ways that are not based in fear, competition, suspicion or anxiety about scarcity. Enable us to perceive the abundance You have created and that You are able to generate and sustain in ways that exceed our comprehension. Help us not to expect or demand more than our share, but enable us to share with generosity that is energized by your generosity, so that all may have enough. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Second Sunday

Try to rest from all production, earning and spending. If, for some reason, you cannot do this on Sunday, attempt to do so on another day, or two solid half days, during the week. 

Enter whole-heartedly into worship. Celebrate friendship and simple pleasures.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 10 – Saturday

Proverbs 15:16

     God of peace, we worship You with hope and seek your peace for ourselves and for our many neighbors.

     But we are frequently restless and anxious. Our anxiety fuels chaotic and fearful thinking that pushes us to accumulate more. We become dissatisfied with what You have provided and what we truly need and we crave new things. We exploit and find ourselves in competition with other people (near and far) as we add to our fortune and attempt to quell the empty and desperate feelings that we have. We lie awake at night, worrying about loss and planning for the protection of the resources we are hoarding.

     God, You know us better than we know ourselves. You know our deep anxiety and fearfulness. You know our nagging craving for more. And You are able to change us. You are able to transform our minds and wean us from our insatiable cravings. 

     Transform us! Enable us to trust You for our well-being. Calm our anxious minds. Heal our relationships. Let your peace fill our lives and let us share that peace with our neighbors. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 9 – Friday

Proverbs 11:25, Mark 10:17-31 (especially verses 28-31)

     Gracious God, we rejoice in your daily provision. We rejoice that You make us prosperous. But help us not to define prosperity solely in terms of the accumulation of material wealth.  

     Enable us to define our wealth in terms of relationships of mutuality with diverse neighbors, near and far, and with meaningful work that provides adequately for our true needs while giving us opportunities to nourish and heal your people and your creation. 

     We rejoice in the many ways that You have refreshed our souls. Enable us to refresh the lives of others and to know the refreshment of seeing and acting beyond our own desires and needs. As we act in gratitude, with generosity, may many look to You who are the Most Generous One of all. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 8 – Thursday

Proverbs 11:4; Matthew 6:19-21

     Generous God, we praise You for your many wonderful gifts! We praise You for this world of abundance! We rejoice in the opportunity to serve and know You. We rejoice that You have surrounded us by sisters and brothers who journey with us and help us find strength in you.

     Help us to use the gifts You give us with wisdom. Help us not to hoard money and other resources as though they were permanent possessions, but open our hearts to share gladly with many people, so that they too may rejoice in your generous provision.

     Help us to prioritize right relationships with You and with our many neighbors over the accumulation of money and other things. Do not allow us to deceive ourselves into believing that wealth will solve all of our problems, or that it can serve as our ultimate source of security. 

     We know that all of our wealth is meaningless if our lives are not fully rooted in yours and if we do not practice the righteousness in which You instruct us. Fill our lives with meaning as we follow your guidance. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 7 – Wednesday

Deuteronomy 15:1-11

     Generous God, You have forgiven us so much! And you have commanded us to forgive not only personal offenses, but also the financial debts of our neighbors.

     You have called us to be a generous people who lend and give freely. You have instructed us to be openhanded, not hard-hearted or tight-fisted in response to neighbors in need. But we have made it almost a creed among us that it is unwise to lend to our relatives and friends, let alone neighbors whom we barely know.

     Your prophet declared, “there need be no poor among you,” and “there will always be poor people in the land.” We have chosen to believe that the latter must be the case and that some, if not many, are fated to be perpetually poor. We thereby excuse ourselves from taking the risks that extravagant generosity requires of us. We do not trust You enough to risk much. We will not expend much effort assuring that our neighbors may be vital, fruitful participants in the life of our community.

     God, forgive us for our hard-heartedness. Forgive us for failing to trust You enough to lend and give and then forgive the debts of those to whom we have lent. 

     Pry our fingers open, if You must, but enable us to give with generosity that reflects your generosity to us. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 6 – Tuesday

Psalm 119:37

     Maker of light and Giver of sight, turn our eyes toward You. Give us insight through your instruction and commands. Enable us to trust You. Enable us to obey You with gladness.

     Turn our eyes away from the many things that capture our imagination, and upon which we set our hearts, even though they are of no enduring value. Break our habit of constantly accumulating things for which we quickly lose interest. Alter our urge to obtain the latest gadgets even though we know they will soon be obsolete. Do not let us be characterized by frivolous choices.

     Help us to discern what we truly need and to learn contentment with the sufficiency of your provision. We rejoice in your abundant gifts!

     Help us to see what has enduring value and to fill our lives with those things. Enable us to place priority on our relationships with You and with the people whom You have placed around us. 

     Revive and energize our spirits for thoughtful, enduring faithfulness. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 5: Monday

Psalm 119:36

     Wise and generous God, we rejoice in your word of instruction and command. We rejoice in your promises of comfort and joy. We hope for the fulfillment of your promises that your reign of justice and peace will come in fullness among us. We count on your guidance.

     But our minds are often diverted by the allures of wealth. We begin to believe that money is our reward and security. We invest both our physical and mental energy in the accumulation and protection of resources. Then we find that we are increasingly anxious, increasingly worried about the adequacy and safety of what we possess, so that we become possessed by what we have amassed and greedy for more. 

     Liberate us from the anxiety that produces greed. Transform our minds. Draw us more deeply into your word and give us wisdom and understanding that generates glad and generous living. We have found You trustworthy in so many things. Deepen our trust in You each day. Amen.

Prayer for March 5-11, 2017

Sermon Text: Matthew 4:1-11

That we may grow strong in the wilderness moments of our lives

     Holy One, we rejoice that when your Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness it was not to abandon him there. We rejoice that Jesus grew strong in the Spirit even as his body was weakened by deprivation. We rejoice that Jesus was so deeply attuned to your word and so thoroughly focused on your reign that he could not be diverted from absolute allegiance to You. You enabled him to see through the ploys of the tempter and to act with faithful resolve.

     We pray that your Spirit will make us strong as we are led through the various wilderness moments of our lives. May your word be such a deep spring of life within us that it wells up and quenches the tempting voice that would lure us away from You toward wealth or power or other idolatrous attachments that would undermine our ability to live faithfully within your reign of vitality, peace, justice and love. 

     We rejoice that in our weakness, we find strength and protection through the abiding presence of your Spirit. Enable us to be fully attuned to the guidance of your Word and Spirit. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

First Sunday

Try to rest from all production, earning and spending. If, for some reason, you cannot do this on Sunday, attempt to do so on another day during the week. 

Enter whole-heartedly into worship. Celebrate friendship and simple pleasures.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 4 – Saturday

Psalm 19

     Creative God, we rejoice in You and in your magnificent work of creation. Enable us to read your universe as a testimony to your glory and wisdom. May our observations enhance our delight in You.

     Wise God, we rejoice in your word. Enable us to meditate on it and allow it to shape our minds by your values. Enable us to truly see that attentiveness and obedience to your word is more enriching than all of the money and goods that we may amass. Enable us to see that our deepest security comes not from wealth, but from wise trust in your word. As we allow your word to shape our lives, bend our lives away from hoarding and investing our energy in protecting our things. Move us more deeply into lives of generous sharing and a commitment to justice that tries to assure that each of our neighbors and every person in the world has adequate resources for fruitful and joyful living. 

     Your creation and your commands testify to your glory and wisdom. Let our lives do so as well. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 3 – Friday

Exodus 20:17

     O God, in your covenant with your people, whom You were preparing to settle in a land full of promise, You called them beyond competitive and violent exploitation of their neighbors.

     God, we are thousands of miles and many centuries away from those events. But we want to believe that You have called and enabled us to be your people. Yet we are full of covetousness! And we do not know how to extricate our lives from the intricate web of competition and exploitation that have been woven around us and extended on a grand scale for our benefit.

     Most of the time, we do no physical harm to our nearest neighbors, and our competition with them is usually limited to the accumulation of gadgets that we imagine are necessary for our lives.

     But we have empowered our nation and our largest corporations to exploit, extract and confiscate land and resources, all over the world, in order to make our lives more convenient. Many have suffered because of this. The earth has suffered because of this. Lands held in common for thousands of years have been lost. Whole communities of people have been evicted from their ancestral homes. Many have starved while raising our sweetest treats.  

     Somehow, we have convinced ourselves that we have earned our own way in the world, that we deserve all of the resources that have been taken from other peoples.

     Forgive us for our blindness to the consequences of our covetousness. Forgive us for our burgeoning greed. Forgive us for harming so many whom we do not know. 

     Enlighten us! Transform our lives! Extricate us from the web of competition and exploitation that brings terror to so many people. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 2 – Thursday

Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-24

     Creator of all, in our arrogance we forget that we are finite, created beings. We forget that the freedom and joy You have given to us are lived within limits that are not burdensome. We act as though no limits apply to us. So, we rebel against your kind instruction and grasp for everything that we can reach.

     We accept no limits on our imagination or desires, but seek to gratify every one of them. We will not be restrained in our use of the world’s resources. We will not limit our spending and accumulation of possessions. We will not say no to any of our sexual appetites. We will not refrain from exploiting neighbors near and far.

     We have believed lies about our limitlessness and have worshiped our own reflection. And we have occasionally had our world come crashing down around us because of our choices.

     Forgive us for our arrogance! Forgive us for our rebelliousness! Forgive us for wanting to usurp your role or at least make ourselves your equal. Forgive us for seeing every limit as a restraint and for trying to be our own autonomous gods. 

     Forgive us! Do new creation in our lives so that they demonstrate our dependence upon and intimacy with You. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

     As I have thought about doing another Lenten prayer guide, it seems like God has directed my thoughts to one theme: money, wealth and stewardship (which may sound like more than one theme), and has diverted my thoughts when I have tried to think of other ideas.

     I have attempted to think and act wisely in the use of resources that God has provided for me and my family, but I believe there is much room for growth in my life, and probably in yours too.

     These prayers are not intended as little sermons. I am not interested in creating guilt trips for anyone. I am interested in helping us prayerfully explore our attitudes and responses to wealth, in its many forms, so that our lives reflect biblical concerns for daily trust in God and daily love and justice for our neighbors. Let this be our prayer!

     As usual, I have written these prayers in the first person plural (“we” and “us”), believing that all of our prayer is part of the prayer of the church and that God’s word is directed towards the whole people of God, not just to isolated individuals.

     I have made some choices about scriptural passages that I will respond to in prayer, but do not have a strong sense, yet, about how the prayers for the forty days will hold together. They may lead in directions of which I am presently unaware. Thank you for joining me in this journey.

Day 1 - Ash Wednesday

Psalm 24:1

     Wondrous Creator, we worship you in the midst of a world of amazing beauty, complexity and fruitfulness. We praise You for your wonderful works! You have called them “Good!” and have taken delight in them, and we have too.

     But we often forget that You created by your own word, out of your own wisdom, for your own delight. We forget that we are stewards and caretakers, not absolute owners. We forget that your world is not ours to use and abuse in any way that comes to mind.

     Forgive us for our forgetfulness. Forgive us for our presumption. Forgive us for plundering beauty and creating ugliness, for turning fruitfulness to desolation, and for destroying life.

     Forgive us for our greed that fuels excessive extraction, aggressive and unjust confiscation, widespread starvation and rapid extinction. 

     Help us to remember that we are your creatures. Help us to remember our role as caretakers whose task is to enhance the beauty and fruitfulness of your creation. Help us to alter our practices of consumption. Transform our minds so that we may act with wisdom. Amen.