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.
No comments:
Post a Comment