Prayer for February 28-March 6, 2021
Lenten Prayer - Second Sunday (February 28, 2021)
Sermon Text: Psalm 22:23-31

God, so often we are wounded in body and spirit, but we do not know how to cry out to You. We are afraid to declare that we feel abandoned by You. We are afraid to ask You to release us from pain, shame, exploitation, and anything else that might cause us suffering.

In spite of the suffering that Jesus and his disciples endured as they faithfully declared your reign, your new creation, we typically assume that suffering is a sure sign of failure, sin, or rebellion.

Enable us to cry out to You, in hope, no matter how challenging, or even unbearable, the circumstances that makes us feel abandoned, make us sense that we are wasting away and have little chance for renewal.

 

Answer us when we call. Deliver us from the jaws of death and destruction. Enable us to rejoice, praise, and give thanks to You for your acts of kindness and salvation. Let us praise and thank You in public, but only for your glory. You are great! We worship You without reserve. Amen!

Lenten Prayer - Day 10 - Second Saturday (February 27, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Mark 8:22-30

     Jesus, we rejoice that you are able to touch blind eyes and make them see. We rejoice, also, that You are able to touch our clouded minds and give us insight by revealing your role as God's Anointed One. 

     We confess that we are slow to see what You want us to see. It seems that we must learn the same lessons over and over again. We forget so quickly. We are so slow at moving in the direction that You guide both our thoughts and action. We follow so timidly.

     Forgive us when we are hard-hearted. Forgive us when we refuse to recognize your authority in our lives. Forgive us when we refuse to acknowledge that You are the One who brings healing and new vision among us.

     Enable us to see You more clearly and live more completely into your desire for us.

     We acknowledge You as Living Agent of God's reign among us! We praise You with joy!

Amen.

Lenten Prayer - Day 9 - Friday (February 26, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:27-37

     Faithful One, we worship You and trust in You. As people redeemed and renewed by Christ Jesus, and guided and energized by your Spirit, enable us to be people of truth and fidelity in all of our relationships.

     Forgive us when we view other people as objects for our exploitation and control. Forgive us when we treat even our most intimate relationships as disposable commodities. Forgive us when we attempt to use truth, or some facsimile of it, as a means to manipulate other people for our own benefit.

     Enable us to take strict measures to eliminate exploitative and deceitful practices from our relationships. Help us to cut out sin where it is most deeply rooted in our lives.

     Transform us so fully that truth, fidelity, and love flow from the center of our being as a reflection of your presence in us. Enable us to be your image for one another, as You intended us to be. We pray in the name of the One who embodied your fullness. Amen.

Prayer for Lent - Day 8 - Thursday (February 25, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:17-26

     Jesus, we rejoice in You as God's Chosen One. We rejoice that You have shown us what a fully human life looks like. We rejoice that, in You, all the instruction, command, warning, and promise of Torah and prophecy have been fulfilled: 

        You have acted in total obedience. 

        You have demonstrated extraordinary compassion. 

        You have brought healing to many.

        You have liberated people from spiritual and political oppression.

        You have breathed the Spirit of God upon your people.

        You have enacted God's goodness.

        You have embodied God's fullness.

        You have given your life for your friends.

        You have brought the entire creation into a unified relationship with God.

    Forgive us when we fool ourselves into thinking that following You is easy. Forgive us when we think that the life of faith is one with few demands.

    Let our faith in You, our loyalty to You, be expressed by following You into all of the places that You lead. Encourage us by your example. Energize us by your Spirit. Renew us and use us to renew your creation. Amen.

Prayer for Lent - Day 7 - Wednesday (February 24, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Luke 4:22-30

     Jesus, the people in your home town were encouraged and amazed by your teaching. You raised their hopes, and, for a moment, caused them to look beyond their present circumstances as villagers caught in the web of a powerful empire. For a moment, they thought that God's reign was breaking upon them in a new way. Then . . . they remembered who You were and realized that they had known You as a little boy, and concluded that You were speaking about things of which You possessed no knowledge. Instead of appeasing them, You stoked their anger by telling about God's compassionate works among foreigners whom they despised.

     Jesus, many of us are initially encouraged and amazed by your teaching. You raise our hopes about God's new reign coming among us by your Spirit. But when You identify your role as bringing hope and renewal to those who are stuck on the margins of society, typically without resources and without the ability to manage their lives as we expect of them, we hesitate. We really balk, when You ask us to practice solidarity with the weak, wounded, and victimized, as You did.

     Many of us are full of doubts when You challenge our preference for the wise, rich and powerful people among us. Many of us are full of doubts when You challenge the central place we have given to wealth, in both our personal lives and our society. At times, we openly challenge your call to compassion, justice, and peace. We want what will put us in the most secure position possible, at least for the short term, even if it means resisting You. So we often resist.

     Forgive us! Give us understanding of your way among us. Give us energy and resolve to learn what You teach and to follow where You lead. Amen.

Prayer for Lent - Day 6 - Tuesday (February 23, 2021)
Gospel reading: Luke 4:16-21 

     God, it doesn't seem that we have grasped what a crucial moment this was. Jesus' identity as your Beloved Child, had been challenged during his wilderness testing, but remained intact. Now he identifies himself with scripture that speaks of divine anointing expressed through bearing good news for the poor, declaring the release of captives, bringing sight to the blind, freeing the oppressed, and declaring the Jubilee year, that sets aside the standard economic machinery to practice generosity and forgiveness of debts in order to restore God's covenant community to a significant degree of health and unity and give Sabbath rest to all.
     We want to be called by Jesus' name, but many of us do not want to take up Jesus' mission. We don't want to complete what Jesus instructed his followers to complete. Many of us are too busy and too greedy to notice the poor, to notice the disabled, to notice our great prison population, and then act with the compassion that Jesus showed when he identified himself with the people for whom he was anointed with God's Spirit.*
     We do not want to invest ourselves** in anything that is not to our own short-term advantage, even if it means creating a more beautiful, just, and peaceful world in the long run. Forgive us for our recalcitrant refusal to actually follow Jesus in his life-giving ministry on the way to the cross. Transform us into coworkers in your reign of forgiveness, healing, justice, and peace. Amen.

* Matthew 25:31-46
** See Isaiah 58:10 "spend yourselves"

Prayer for Lent - Day 5 - Monday (February 22, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Luke 4:9-15

     God we seem to spend a lot of time trying to figure out who we are. We explore hidden pathways. We await mysterious revelations. But we do not tend to take You at your word when You call us your beloved children, or your chosen and holy ones.
     Because we are not comfortable with the names that You have given us, we are easily tempted to think that we must have extraordinary spiritual experiences, or perform unusual feats of courage, generosity, trust, or self-deprivation in order to prove who we are, in order to show the world that we deserve, in some measure, the identity that You have given to us in your generous love.
     Forgive us for our failure to trust You. Forgive us for our unwillingness to receive the identity that that You give us for our well-being and your glory in the world.
     Enable us to follow Jesus, who turned aside very temptation by trusting You and by living in your word, in such a way, that he could recognize and rebuff even temptation that was based on twisting your word for deadly purposes.
     Enable us to trust You in every circumstance and not test your fidelity to us by taking on showy challenges that draw attention to ourselves.
     You have been for us in great generosity and love. Enable us to be for You in tenacity and loving fidelity as we depend upon You completely. Amen.

Prayer for Lent - First Sunday - February 21, 2020
Sermon Text: Psalm 25:1-11 

(Note: this prayer is doing double duty as a Lenten prayer and our prayer for the week of February 21-27, 2021)

That we may follow your ways with faithfulness and tenacity

O God, we trust in You. Don't let us be overwhelmed by personal and communal enemies. Don't let us be shamed in ways that bring dishonor to our families, friends, communities, and even to You.

Teach us your ways. Enable us to follow them with faithfulness and tenacity. Show us your truth. Let it settle deeply into our hearts and minds and guide our actions.

Remember that You have chosen us as your covenantal partners. Remember our frailty. Remember our constant need for You. Keep pouring out your mercy and love in ways that are consistent with your gracious, saving acts in your long history with your people.

Don't remember the sinfulness and rebellion of our youth. Do forgive the "great iniquity" that has characterized some of us in our later years.

We trust in You, O God, You are our One True Hope. Amen.

Prayer for Lent - Day 4 - Saturday (February 20, 2021)

Gospel Reading: Luke 4:1-8

     We rejoice, O God, that You endowed Jesus with your Spirit, and that every moment of his ministry was in the presence and under the direction of the Spirit. Even his sojourn in the wilderness, echoing the experience of his ancestors, was initiated by the Spirit's guidance.

     We rejoice that your Spirit enabled Jesus to fast for 40 days. And though he became very hungry, at the end of those days, his time in the presence of your Spirit gave him the courage, wisdom, and energy to resist the temptation to make his physical hunger the  dominant reality of his life.

     We rejoice that Jesus, the embodiment of your Word, was so thoroughly acquainted with the scriptures that he was able to resist the temptation to let hunger for personal authority and glory cause him to act in the idolatrous way that the tempter offered. He was fully loyal to You in spite of great temptation. And he did not doubt your affirmation of his role as your beloved Son, with the authority and eventual glory that implied.

     God, we don't always allow your Spirit to guide us, especially when we are guided toward potential hardship. Forgive us! We don't always trust in the identity You have given us as your children, but, instead, work hard to achieve what You give as gift. Forgive us! We don't always resist the temptation to put our own needs, or our own appetite for power and glory aside, in order to be fully faithful to You! Forgive us.

     May we find in our own wilderness days, that your Spirit is close, your word is true, and your call upon our lives is full of promise. Energize us for the ministry to which You have called us. We rejoice in You, O God! Amen.

     

Prayer for Lent - Day 3 - Friday (February 19, 2021)

Luke 9:57-62

     Jesus, we want to follow You, if we can fit You into our schedule, somehow, and if You don't make things too inconvenient for us. We aren't really all that interested in giving up the life of abundance and ease that many of us enjoy. We don't want to face deprivation. We don't want following You to interfere with our family obligations or with other relationships. We want to take up the work of discipleship and set it aside as it fits our own priorities, dreams, or even whims.
     Jesus, You call us to follow You by making your priorities our own. You call us to follow You by accepting, and even rejoicing in, the hardships that often arise for those who live with You at the center of their existence. Forgive us for our many failures and our frequent moments of rebellion. Enable us to resist allowing anything else to hold the central place of loyalty in our lives. Enable us to follow You by remaining attuned to your instruction and energized by your Spirit. We rejoice in your call upon our lives! Amen.

Prayer for Lent - Day 2 - Thursday (2/18/2021)

Gospel Reading: Luke 18:9-14

     God of all people, we rejoice in You! We trust in You!

     Forgive us when we become overconfident in our status before You, become self-congratulatory, and look with scorn upon others whose morality seems compromised, and whose understanding or performance of faith seems feeble, when compared to our own.

     Let every dimension of our lives be shaped by your word. May each day be filled with acts of glad fidelity to the covenant You have created with us. 

     As we pray, may we stand in solidarity, not in judgment, upon all who seek You and enter your presence in humility or self-abasement. Enable us to see ourselves clearly, to recognize our sinfulness and our dependence upon You. Let us cry for your mercy with everyone else who seeks it. And may we find and celebrate that mercy with a vast host of people whom You love. We pray in the name of the One who taught and enacted your mercy among us. Amen.

Prayer for Ash Wednesday - Lent - Day 1 - February 17, 2021
Sermon Text: Psalm 51

     God our Creator and Covenant-maker, enable us to cry out to You in our guilt and grief. Enable us to speak the truth about ourselves, to admit that we have sinned against You, but also to recognize the harm that we have done to others through our wanton and careless acts.

     We would prefer to avoid the truth about our sinfulness, because that makes it easier for us to deny that we need You, and easier to deny that our lives are inextricably linked to the lives of many other people. Help us to see and acknowledge the truth even when that is painful for us.

     Have mercy! Forgive us for our sins against You.

     Have mercy! Forgive us for the harm we have done to our neighbors.

     Have mercy! Forgive us for thinking that we can create our own way in the world, by our own means, without reference to and dependence upon You.

     Keep us close to You! Fill us with your Spirit! Heal us! Enable us to worship and serve You with joy! Amen.

Note: I don't have a plan for a particular series of prayers for this Lenten season. If you utilize this prayer, pray also that God will touch my mind and guide my writing in the days ahead. Peace to each of you!

Prayer for February 14-20, 2021
Sermon Text: Mark 9:2-9

That we may listen with our whole being to the instruction and command of Jesus

Jesus, we long to walk close beside You. We long to see the power of God's reign touch the world through You. We long to be dazzled by your beauty and radiance. We long to comprehend, more fully, the way that your life, your presence, fulfills the instruction, warning, and promise that Moses and Elijah represent for your people Israel.

God, enable us to obey You and listen with our whole being to the instruction and command of Jesus. Let us draw from his wisdom. Let us follow in his ways. Let us practice the compassion that he showed for those who were "like sheep without a shepherd."

Spirit, draw us together. Enable us to be the compassionate community of Jesus in a world that is usually most interested in accumulating commodities and exercising control over others. May your freedom blow through our lives and liberate us for new life and transforming service. Amen.

Prayer for February 7-13, 2021
Sermon Text: Mark 1:29-39

That we may remain open to all You offers us in your matchless love

God of many gifts, we praise You for the wonders of your creation. We praise You for your ability to nurture and sustain what You have made. And we rejoice in the many gifts that You have given that enable us to walk in close communion with You and to minister in your name.

We rejoice that through the waters of baptism and the outpouring of your Spirit, we have been identified as your beloved children. We are thankful that Jesus' compassionate touch has brought many forms of healing to our bodies and spirits. We rejoice that You meet us in times of prayerful intimacy, and that in those times we can align our lives more completely with your life-giving will for us. And we praise You, that in your wisdom, acts of obedience give us greater energy for daily faith and ministry.

Forgive us when we forget or spurn your gifts. Enable us to remain open to all that You offer us out of your matchless love. We are yours by your own word. Amen.

Prayer for January 31-February 6, 2021
Sermon text: Mark 1:21-28 

That we may follow the alternative model of human life that You lived among us

Jesus, we worship You. We are awed by your teaching, which flowed from the depths of God's love through your life. We rejoice that You were so fully aligned with God, and so fully authorized by God, that You were able to enact God's reign in liberating, restoring ways among us.

We rejoice that You were able to resist temptation, in the wilderness, but also that You were able to defeat enslaving spirits that diminished the lives of some of those whom You encountered during your ministry.

We rejoice that You provided an alternative model of humanity that did not thrive through violence and death.

Enable us to follow You in your way. Enable us to open our minds to your instruction and open our hearts to your love. Forgive us when we resist You. Forgive us when we submit to the demonic and deadly ways that You encountered and defeated.

Let us experience the renewing freedom that You bring. And let us share the good news about what You have done and can do among us. Amen.