LENTEN PRAYERS 2018: PRAYING THE DAILY GOSPEL

THIRD WEDNESDAY 
Mark 4:1-20 

God of harvest, your word has already penetrated our lives, but help us to continue to be among those with ears that hear. Let your word of life germinate and set roots in the deepest ground of our being, so that our lives may be fruitful with an abundance of obedience and good works. 

Enable us to keep our eyes, ears and hearts constantly open to You. Make us fully aware of our sins so that we may consistently turn to You for forgiveness and renewal.  

Protect us from every evil influence. Give us courage to stand firm no matter how fiercely our faith may be challenged. Help us not to be deceived by wealth and ensnared in worry that keeps us grasping and accumulating more and more.  

We pray that You will reap a large harvest of goodness from our lives and be fully glorified in us. Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS 2018: PRAYING THE DAILY GOSPEL

SECOND TUESDAY

Mark 3:20-35

God of wisdom, we rejoice that You sent your Chosen One, Jesus, to walk and work among us as Agent of your reign of peace and justice.

But we must confess that we are often as confused and aggravated by Jesus as family, who thought he was mentally ill, and spiritual leaders, who thought he was possessed by the epitome of evil spirits.

Sometimes Jesus’ authority seems simply abrasive to us. Sometimes his call upon our lives seems impossibly difficult. Sometimes his vision for a world where forgiveness, healing, liberation, justice and peace are lived by a people of courageous fidelity seems like a taunting fantasy. 

In spite of days of confusion and doubt, we continue to hold on to hope that You are doing a new thing in, among, and through us, by Jesus. We continue to listen for the Spirit of Christ instructing and guiding us into the future You are creating. We continue to draw near for worship, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS 2018: PRAYING THE DAILY GOSPEL

SECOND MONDAY 
Mark 3:7-19 

Jesus, Son of God, we rejoice that You came among us as bearer of healing and liberation. We rejoice that You drew people who were poor, sick, wounded, and spiritually oppressed to yourself, and that You enabled them to see, in You, possibilities for new life that were unavailable through the priests and politicians who dominated their lives. 

Like the crowds of long ago, we come to You with urgent hope that You will heal us and that You will liberate us for lives of wholeness that are fully responsive to You. 

Like the twelve You called to live close beside You and to expand your ministry by speaking good news and enacting liberation, many of us have answered your call. We have heard the authority in your voice and seen it in your action, and we are walking beside You, learning from You, and trying to be agents of your ongoing agenda: generating new life.   

Help us to follow your leadership closely, to tell your good news with boldness and fidelity, and to act in ways that bring true liberation to many. Amen.

Prayer for February 25-March 3, 2018 

Sermon Text: Mark 8:31-38

That we may give ourselves fully as we follow Jesus

Loving and faithful God, we rejoice that You are constantly teaching us new things. You enable us to recognize and acclaim Jesus as your Chosen One. But then You frequently challenge our understanding of what that means.

We want a Savior and Champion who is powerful, even invulnerable. But You give us One who tells us that his way is one of rejection, suffering and death, then, ultimately, new life. We are so confused about the hard parts of Christ’s way, that we often fail to hear, or believe, the part about new life that emerges from suffering and death.

We do not want to be that vulnerable! We do not want to suffer or die! We want to preserve ourselves as completely as we can.

But … we do want to follow Jesus. We have seen, in Jesus, truth, hope, compassion, forgiveness, faith, courage, and love that compels us to draw near and follow close.

We want to be willing to lose our lives, lose everything for the sake of Jesus and the good news of your reign. Many days, we hold back at least a little. But You are able to give us courage to give ourselves fully. We trust in You for that help. Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS 2018: PRAYING THE DAILY GOSPEL

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

John 5:19-24

God of glory, we rejoice that Jesus came among us in order to do your work of creation and redemption. We rejoice that he came with full understanding of your intention and that he acted in order to achieve your purpose. We rejoice that he was empowered by You, and acted in complete unity with You.

We have been astonished by all that Jesus did among us. We have seen lives transformed. We have seen the sick healed and the bound released. We have even watched the dead return to life.

We rejoice that we have received life as your precious gift, given in freedom, and energizing us for newly liberated lives of trust and courage.    

Because of your presence and enduring love, we do not fear your judgment. Instead, we give our whole selves in glad obedience in order to honor You through Jesus the Christ. Enable us to continue the work that Jesus began among us. Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS 2018: PRAYING THE DAILY GOSPEL

SATURDAY 2 
Mark 2:23-3:6  

Sabbath Creator, we barely comprehend the conflict that Jesus had with some leaders over the keeping of Sabbath. We are so busy in our anxiety about managing our finances, managing the way we are perceived, arranging for our security, and managing the world that we have little experience of Sabbath rest. 

We rejoice that You created Sabbath as sacred time in which we may trust fully in your provision for us. Deepen our trust! Let that trust enable us to find a day of true rest, each week, and let it bring elements of Sabbath rest into each of our days. 

We rejoice that Jesus, like most Jews, understood Sabbath as a life-giving day and that he acted in ways that renewed life. Enable us to discern the difference between anxious, self-focused labor and generous, life-energizing responses that liberate and heal others, then act accordingly. 

In action and in rest, help us trust You fully. Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS 2018: PRAYING THE DAILY GOSPEL

FRIDAY 2

Mark 2:13-22

God of mercy, we rejoice that Jesus did not limit his call to discipleship to people who had already demonstrated a great aptitude for following, or who had proven themselves righteous, or who fit in with the best and brightest of the day. We rejoice that Jesus called sinners and collaborators and others who were deemed unworthy of welcome into the presence of God. 

We rejoice that You have extended that call to us, in our unworthiness, and that You have enabled us to follow Jesus with some measure of fidelity. 

Continue the work of healing and transformation that You have begun in us. Help us not to try to squeeze your gifts into lives and structures that are not prepared to receive newness and help us to discern when radical change is necessary within us in order for us to carry your presence into the world.  

Enable us to welcome others as Jesus welcomed us. Enable us to live our lives with great joy because of Christ’s presence among us. May we celebrate that presence with many who answer the call of Jesus. Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS 2018: PRAYING THE DAILY GOSPEL

THURSDAY 2

Mark 2:1-12

Jesus, we rejoice in the energy and tenacity with which some people have worked to bring others into your forgiving and healing presence. Fill us with such audacious faith! Fill us with such compassion! Enable us to be tenacious in seeking healing and liberation for others.

We rejoice that You are able to speak healing. We rejoice that You are able to declare forgiveness. And we rejoice that You are able to discern which word is needed in the moment of personal encounter. Give us such discernment as we seek to minister to people who are wounded in body or spirit or both.  

May we be agents of forgiveness and healing, offering your gifts with the same liberality with which You have offered them to us. Let any praise that we elicit be directed only to You. Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS 2018: PRAYING THE DAILY GOSPEL

WEDNESDAY 2

Mark 1:29-45

Christ Jesus, we rejoice that wherever You go You unleash power for healing and liberation. You restore people to community. You give new life and new hope.

We are humbled to realize, Teacher, that whenever You could, You retreated for prayer, finding communion with God and allowing the Spirit of God to energize You for continuous works of mercy and compassion. 

Enable us to follow your example by prayerfully allowing the Spirit to guide and energize every moment of our ministry to others. Enable us to be agents of healing and liberation. And when we have seen your marvelous works among us, enable us to spread the news, to declare boldly what You have accomplished in and through and, sometimes, in spite of us. Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS 2018: PRAYING THE DAILY GOSPEL

TUESDAY 1

Mark 1:14-28

Christ Jesus, we rejoice in You! We rejoice that You came among us and acted with astonishing authority even though You were not authorized or acknowledged by either political or religious leaders.

You called disciples to You, and they came without hesitation. You instructed your audiences in the word of God, and as they heard You, they recognized an authority in which word and action were fully congruent. You spoke release to those who were in the grips of oppressive spirits and liberated them.  

We are often too jaded to be astonished by You. But do a new work within us. Enable us to recognize that your authority is authorized and affirmed by God. Enable us to follow, without hesitation, wherever You may lead us. Most of all, enable us to recognize that in You, the reign of God has come near and now impinges upon every dimension of our lives, calling us to newness that we could not generate on our own. Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS 2018: PRAYING THE DAILY GOSPEL

MONDAY 1

Mark 1:1-13

God of covenant, we rejoice that You have sent Jesus among us. We rejoice that the “beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah,” fits into your long history of covenant commitment and prophetic warning and promise to your people, Israel.

We rejoice that You sent and still send messengers who call for the creation of viable paths through wildernesses of sin, oppression, violence, confusion, defeat, exile and despair. Even though those voices are often irritating, we rejoice that they call us to open ourselves to your transforming presence and enable us to believe that You are able to do new creation among us.

We rejoice that You have led us to the waters of baptism. And we celebrate, with great joy, your gift of the Holy Spirit whose baptism we have received through Jesus Christ.  

As participants in your covenant, through baptism, and as people energized by the presence of your own Spirit, enable us to continue the work that Jesus began among us, to continue living the good news that Jesus lived first among us. Amen.

Prayer for February 18-24, 2018 

Sermon Text: Psalm 25:1-10

That we may be people of truth even under threat

God, we trust in You! We hope in You all day long and every day! We turn to you in the midst of our many joys and our many troubles.

Do not let others shame us! And do not let us shame ourselves by weak, ineffectual and fruitless faith.

Instruct us fully in your way – particularly your way for the challenging sociopolitical context in which we now live. Enable us to see truth, in its many dimensions, and act as people of truth even when surrounded by lies. Give us courage to speak truth even if we must do so under threat. 

Be merciful to us! Forgive and forget our youthful sin and rebellion as well as that which has been part of our more “mature” years. 

God, we rejoice that You are good, loving and faithful to us, as well as to every people and all of creation. We rejoice in your love! And we commit ourselves to deep, enduring obedience as your covenant partners. Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS 2018: PRAYING THE DAILY GOSPEL

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

John 12:44-50

Jesus, Living Image of God, we rejoice in You and plead that You will enable us to believe more confidently in You, and the One who sent You, the One with whom You are in complete unity. Fortify our belief even when we are deeply uncertain about our own worthiness and our ability to trust You.

Jesus, Living Lamp, shine through the night. Shine through the mist and fog of our confusion and enable us to move through the world with confidence in your guidance. As our lives are brightened by You, enable us to shine as lights in the world, enacting your truth and your love in the myriad encounters of our days.

Jesus, Patient Teacher, help us keep our ears open to your words. Give us discernment for obedience that is full of compassion. Since You do not speak judgment against us, prevent us from speaking judgment upon others. 

In the end, let our actions become more and more consistent with your instruction and with the faith that we claim. Keep us close, so that we may walk with You in the way of enduring life. Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS 2018: PRAYING THE DAILY GOSPEL

SATURDAY 1

John 17:20-26

God of wonders, we rejoice that You have enabled us to believe the message that Jesus proclaimed among us. We rejoice that You have taken our lives and have woven them into the unity that You already share with Christ and the Holy Spirit. We rejoice that You have given us glimpses of your glory and that You have endowed us with glory that is derived from your own.

May the world see your glory shining through our lives and turn to You through Christ, your Chosen One.  May many see our lives and be convinced that You are a God of generous and enduring love.

We anticipate, with joy, the day when we dwell permanently in your presence. But for now, we trust in your continuing revelation of yourself to us, through Christ Jesus, so that your love may overflow our lives to touch others in healing, liberating and unifying ways. 

You are our All in All! May we be wholly yours! Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS 2018: PRAYING THE DAILY GOSPEL

FRIDAY 1

John 17:9-19

God of all people and all creation, enable us to live the unity for which Christ Jesus prayed. Protect us from everything that would undermine, disrupt or fracture the unity that we have in Christ Jesus.

Protect us, especially, from ourselves! Forgive us! For we have created innumerable strategies for separating ourselves from one another and refusing fellowship to one another. We consistently undermine the unity that You have created for our benefit and your glory.

We rejoice that You have given us much joy. Enhance and deepen that joy as You shape our lives to be more like Christ. Enable us to be diligent in the practice and proclamation of your word, even when others respond with rejection or hatred. 

We rejoice that we are citizens of your reign. May we be people of truth—fully set aside and purified for your purposes—as we are sent into the world as Jesus was sent by You. Enable us to discern where the values and practices of the world cannot be aligned with those of your reign, and choose the way of Christ. Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS 2018: PRAYING THE DAILY GOSPEL

THURSDAY 1

John 17:1-8

God of glory, we rejoice that You have glorified Christ Jesus. We rejoice that You raised him up and gave him authority over everything in all of creation. We rejoice that You have given him the name that is above all other names.

We add our praise to the glory that You have already given: Hallelujah!

We rejoice that through your glorified Son, You have revealed yourself to us and enabled us to know You. We rejoice that You sent Christ among us. We accept the word of Christ Jesus as a transforming word from You. Transform us completely into the image of Christ! Energize us to practice glad obedience in all things!  

Enable us to glorify Christ Jesus—to glorify You in your unity with Christ and the Holy Spirit—by continuing and completing the work that Christ has given us to do as his disciples and friends.  

We praise You without end! Hallelujah! Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS 2018: PRAYING THE DAILY GOSPEL

I was having difficulty determining a theme for this year's Lenten Prayers, so I decided to base them on the daily gospel readings from the Book of Common Prayer (Year 2). Daily readings are on a two year cycle. The Revised Common Lectionary for Sunday worship uses a three year cycle (Years A, B, and C). I will be writing a prayer for each Sunday, instead of suggesting an exercise, and the gospel for those prayers probably will not match what your congregation uses in worship that Sunday.

As usual, I have written prayers in the first person plural (we, us) as a reminder that we always pray as part of the church, the body of Christ. Most of us do not need encouragement to pray using I and me, so this is intended to help situate us within the wider people of God.

ASH WEDNESDAY

Luke 18:9-14

God of mercy, we so often look at other people through the lens of our own presumed righteousness that we are unable to perceive your possibilities for them. We congratulate ourselves for being reasonably good people, but our thoughts are loaded with judgment for those whose behavior does not match our own.

We presume to judge even though we cannot see into the hearts of those we judge. We get only a glimpse of their outward existence, see, perhaps some affiliations that are repugnant to us, but we do not know if, or how, the people we judge are grasping for You, perhaps with every fiber of their being.

God, we know that we are justified only by your mercy. Forgive us when we act as though we are not. We also know that You justify many whom we would reject and turn from. Forgive us for turning a cold shoulder toward those whom You welcome. 

When we come before You, enable us to turn to those we have commonly rejected with a look of acknowledgement, a word of welcome, and an offer of friendship and solidarity. Let us be justified together in your presence. Amen.

Prayer for February 11-17, 2018 

Sermon Text: Mark 9:1-9

That we may minister even through our feeble faith and bumbling ways

Jesus, how You dazzle us! You embody the clearest vision of the prophets and the deepest wisdom of divine instruction.

In You we see that God’s reign has come among us in an intrusive, powerful, yet inexplicable way. We want to worship You! We want to acclaim You! But we are dumbfounded by the mystery that we encounter in your presence. 

We trust the divine affirmation of You as Beloved Son. We obey the divine command to follow You. We follow You, trusting that You will be able to impart wisdom, bring healing, and act in liberating ways even through our feeble faith and often bumbling ways. Amen.

Prayer for January 28-February 3, 2018 

Sermon Text: Mark 1:21-28

That we may be healed to respond in fullness to God’s presence

Christ Jesus, we rejoice that You taught with the authority of One whose words and actions fully matched your true being. We rejoice that the Holy Spirit that empowered every moment of your ministry was able to counter the spirits that bound many people and kept them from living into their own full humanity.

We share the amazement that people experienced as they witnessed your earthly ministry, because You continue to lead us to the wisdom of God, free us from every addiction and spirit that would bind us, and heal us so that we may respond in wholeness to God’s presence. 

In our glad amazement, we offer You the worship that You are due, and hurry to tell others about what You have done among us. Amen.

Prayer for February 4-10, 2018 

Sermon Text: Mark 1:29-39

That we may sing fresh hallelujahs as we follow You as agents of good news

Jesus, You are constantly surprising as You instruct God’s people in God’s wisdom and act in powerful ways to bring healing and enact liberation from every oppressive spirit.

You spoke and do speak with passion and love. You touched and do touch many fragmented lives and make them whole. You are worthy of our deepest praise and we give it gladly. Hallelujah!

You are no less surprising in your retreat to solitary prayer. You seem so self-sufficient and self-contained, to us, that we easily forget that your ministry was, from first to last, guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit.   

Even now, your ministry among us is energized by the Spirit who moves among us like a fresh breeze or newfound breath.  

From this newfound breath we sing fresh “Hallelujahs!” and by your Spirit we follow You as agents of good news, deep healing, and joyful liberation. Amen.