Lenten Prayer - Day 37 - Seventh Wednesday (March 31, 2021)
Gospel Reading: John 13:21-38

     Jesus, we understand how the announcement that there was a betrayer in their midst would have shocked the disciples who were sharing an intimate and meaningful meal with You. It would have stunned us too! Like them, we would have wondered what You meant. We would have asked, "Who?" We would have been hurt and disappointed when You identified Judas by handing him a piece of bread. We may have thought, "How could he do such a thing? I never would!"

     Knowing more of the story, more of the history of the church, and knowing ourselves, we probably would not conclude that only one person was meant by your remark. Although we are sometimes smug, in our self-righteousness, we are often aware of the many failures, betrayals, and denials that have been part of our relationship with You.

     We frequently give You up for ideals that do not match your proclamation and incarnation of God's reign. We give You up for personal gain, self-protection, and sometimes because we are just too lazy to follow the narrow way that You invite us to walk with You.

     Jesus, enable us to identify with You, and stand with You, no matter how difficult the circumstances. You have laid down your life for us and given us new life by doing so. Enable us to lay down our lives for You. We are yours, now and always. Amen.

    

Lenten Prayer - Day 36 - Sixth Tuesday (March 30, 2021)
Gospel Reading: John 12:20-36

     Jesus, many want to see You. Many want to watch as You perform some work of healing or exorcism. Many want to hear a word that can calm a storm or change a life.

     But not many of us are interested in following You in the way of resistance, and suffering that You walked in those final days that resulted in your death. Not many of us want to identify ourselves primarily as servant. Not many of us are anxious to die to ourselves so that we may produce abundant fruit for the reign of God. 

     We prefer to cling to the life we have, including the abundant resources we have accumulated, and create a place for ourselves that we imagine is secure and free from chaos. We prefer to choose our own way, even though our choices often diminish and damage us, and many others around us.

     Jesus, we are sorry that You had to face the hour of suffering and death, but we are thankful that You did so. We are thankful that You were willing to lay down your life for your friends.* We rejoice that God affirmed your choice and gave You glory.

     Jesus, it is not evident, to us, that the "prince of this world" has been judged and driven out. There is so much chaos, hatred, and injustice around us that it requires deeper faith than we often have in order to believe this. But we trust in You. We believe that God has vindicated You and is still accomplishing the divine purpose through You.

     Living Light, enable us to walk in the light, confident, not in ourselves, but in You. Amen.

*John 15:13

Lenten Prayer - Day 35 - Sixth Monday (March 29, 2021)
Gospel Reading: John 12:1-11

     Jesus, we are often inclined to tone down our devotion to You because we do not want to make a spectacle that draws attention to ourselves, or misuse resources that You have provided to us for the benefit of others.

     We tend to judge those who act with extravagant devotion as foolish or childish. We tend to be overly conscious of what our left and right hands are doing+ and overly sensitive to what others might think of any extravagant display of devotion.

     Forgive us for withholding our deepest commitment from You. Forgive us for withholding our best resources from worship of You and generosity to our neighbors.

     Transform us! Free us from both internal and external constraints that hinder our ability to respond to You with our whole being, to give ourselves to You as You have given yourself to us. Enable us to perceive the actual needs of our neighbors and allow our devotion to You to generate an upwelling of love for them. 

     You provide us with endless opportunity to respond with compassion and generosity. Help us to seize those opportunities! Do not let us misconstrue your instruction by being hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward our many neighbors in need.* May your willingness to receive devotion and act with compassion, in solidarity.** shape our will and our action. Amen.

+Matthew 6:3

*See Deuteronomy 15:7-11, which provides background for this gospel reading and challenges our tendency to excuse unsympathetic responses to marginalized neighbors.

**Matthew 25:31-46

Prayer for March 28-April 3, 2021
Lenten Prayer - Sixth Sunday - March 28, 2021
Sermon Text: Mark 11:1-11 

That we may remain loyal even in the face of strong resistance and fierce abuse

Hosanna! Jesus! We acclaim You as Savior and Sovereign! We bless You as God’s Agent of blessing! We rejoice that through You God has fulfilled a multitude of promises made to Israel. Hosanna!

We praise You in this moment of joyful hope and anticipation. But do not let us turn fickle and resist the Way of the Cross that You walk and on which You invite us to follow. Enable us to trust You and remain loyal to You, even when we walk into strong resistance and fierce abuse.

Enable us to remain steadfast even when the way is too dark for us to find our way alone. We trust in You. We give our lives to You in response to your great self-giving love.

Amen.

Lenten Prayer - Day 34 - Sixth Saturday (March 27, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Mark 13:28-37

     Jesus, we know how to read some of the signs in the creation around us. We have learned the significance of some patterns of human interaction. But we are not very good at interpreting the signs of your return, signs of the full consummation of God's reign among us. We keep identifying signs of danger and doom that seem to imperil all of creation, but your people have consistently misinterpreted those signs to mean that You were returning in the very near future. 

     Some of us refuse to take responsibility for our part in despoiling creation and inflating the threats that we perceive. Some of us believe that pushing the earth toward annihilation will hasten your return. Some of us barely think of your presence because our lives are fully enmeshed in other concerns, and in devotion to other gods, that we neither think about nor desire the fullness of God's reign among us.

     Enable us to trust in your enduring word. Enable us to hear and act! Let us be alert for your presence and live with conscious commitment to God's reign among us. Help us to be good stewards of the various resources You have given to us, so that we may be considered good servants in the day of judgment, whenever that may arrive.

     Give us the energy and endurance we need for intentional, daily fidelity. Amen.

Lenten Prayer - Day 33 - Sixth Friday (March 26, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Mark 13:14-27

     Jesus, we are not always attuned to your presence and to the values of God's reign among us, so, by the Holy Spirit, enable us to discern what is truly abominable and idolatrous, and what is merely an offense against our personal or communal preferences. Help us discern when we are faced by powers that deal in death. Enable us to escape their grasp for life together as your faithful ones.

     Give us the courage and energy to resist anything that demands the loyalty that only God deserves. Enable us to remain faithful even if we experience "overwhelming distress." Help us to see through deceitful efforts to dominate and destroy us.

     May the Spirit who empowered your ministry dwell within us as we continue your ministry. Let us be alert for signs of your coming, without being overly anxious or investing too much energy attempting to predict a timetable for your return.

     May all of us be prepared for your appearance, and participate in God's reign, where God's desire will be done on earth as in heaven. Though we cannot predict your timing, we pledge to stay alert for your presence, for God's continuing glory. Amen.

Lenten Prayer - Day 32 - Sixth Thursday (March 25, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Mark 13:1-13

     Jesus, enable us to see with your eyes. Help us to understand that every edifice, real or imagined, that dominates our physical or emotional space and becomes an idol, will come under judgment. The things that we believe are most enduring will be revealed as vulnerable and temporary.

     Give us discernment about what is truly valuable and truly enduring. Enable us to commit ourselves to the people and places to which You direct our gaze and our efforts to serve. Do not let us be deceived by sales people, educators, politicians, or even pastors and priests, into believing that anything other than your presence is worthy of our most robust commitment.

     Keep us from squandering our energy by trying to create a timetable for the consummation of God's reign. Instead, enable us to be alert for your presence, wherever it is breaking through in the midst of our daily lives and relationships, as well as within the larger human systems of which we are a part. 

     Help us to remember that your love and action precede our own. Your Spirit is making a way for bold witness and service. Your Spirit gives the energy and speech that we need in times of trial. Enable us to remain firm in our trust for You, no matter how severely we are buffeted by resistance to the love and justice You desire among us. 

     We trust in You! Help us now! Help us each day! Amen.

Lenten Prayer - Day 31 - Sixth Wednesday (March 24, 2021)
Gospel Reading: John 12:44-50

     Jesus, we rejoice in You! We rejoice that when we believe in You, we believe in God our Creator. We rejoice that when we see You, we see more than a vital, fully-lived human life, but see the Holy One who sent You and whom You embody in a unique, unmatchable way. We rejoice that when we draw near You, when we hear and heed your instruction, we are drawn from chaos and confusion into the light of truth that enables us to live in faithful and fruitful ways.

     Jesus, by your Spirit, keep us from being among those who hear your instruction, but do not act upon it. Draw us toward greater fidelity in every dimension of our lives, including all of our relationships. Lead us away from the judgment and discipline that resistance to your saving presence and sovereign word bring into our lives.

     Jesus, we trust You! We pledge our loyalty to You! We seek the fullness of life that God gives through You. May the life of the Eternal One shine through us as it shone through You, for God's glory. Amen.

Lenten Prayer - Day 30 - Fifth Tuesday (March 23, 2021)
Gospel Reading: John 12:37-43

     Jesus, we know that many who heard You preach, and many who saw You do astonishing acts of healing and liberation. did not acknowledge You as anything more than a disruption of teachings and traditions in which they found contentment, reassurance, and even hope for a new future.

     We often find that your teaching and action disrupt our preferred existence. We resist your call to compassion, justice, reconciliation, gratitude, and generosity. As we resist your teaching, we frequently fail to see the wonders You do that would bring us together, in solidarity, for glad thanksgiving and generous sharing. Our own resistance blinds us to the truth that You enact among us.

     We know there is no easy move from observing healed and transformed lives to trusting You and being loyal to You. Forgive us for making the move more difficult by clinging to our doubts as though they were a badge of honor. Forgive us for resisting You when following You does not seem to provide the benefits that we want most: wealth, security, and human praise. 

     Heal our blindness. Heal our hard-heartedness. Let your Spirit blow in fresh and free ways to bring new vision and new faith among us. Amen.

Lenten Prayer - Day 29 - Fifth Monday (March 22, 2021)
Gospel Reading: John 12:20-36

     Jesus, we know that many sought You out. We know they came to You for many reasons, just like us. Some came in hopes of seeing great spectacle or sharp debate. Some came hoping to discredit You. Some came from a deep awareness of their own need for forgiveness, healing, and liberation. Some came in order to be part of a movement that transcended their personal concerns.

     Let us seek You because we know that You are the Author and Sustainer of Life. Let us seek You because we want to commit our lives fully to God and to the pursuit of God's agenda as expressed through your life among us. God has called to us, through You. Enable us to answer that call with all that we are.

     We thank You for facing your appointed hour with fidelity. We rejoice that You were able to set aside your own fear, pain, and sense of abandonment in order to fulfill God's call on your life. We rejoice that even as your mission neared completion, You were aware of the affirmation of God.

     Enable us to follow You. May we witness your victory by the renewal of our personal lives, political and economic systems, and the whole of creation. May we be witnesses as all people are drawn to You. May our own stories and acts of neighborly love and justice move others to seek You.

     May we live as children of Light and help shed your light upon this world that often seems to be plunged in darkness. Let the transformation You have begun in us contribute to the transformation of your creation. Amen.

     

Prayer for March 21-27, 2021
Lenten Prayer - Fifth Sunday
Sermon Text: Jeremiah 31:31-34

That your word will be the foundation of fidelity and good works

God of forgiveness, new life, and new covenant, we worship You. We praise You for your wondrous works of salvation. We rejoice in your daily acts of faithfulness. We celebrate your many gifts.

We rejoice that You have placed your word in our minds and written it on our hearts. Let that word provide the foundation for a life of fidelity and good works. May it move us to be a source of your blessing for neighbors near and far.

Forgive us when we intentionally cover and obscure your word and resist its call upon our lives. Forgive us when we still act willfully and allow idols of various sorts to undermine our experience of your transforming and renewing love.

You are our only source of hope. Your word, welling up in our daily thoughts, often reminds us of that. Help us not to ignore those reminders. We ask in the name of the One who fully embodied your word. Amen.

Lenten Prayer – Day 28 – Fifth Saturday (March 20, 2021)
Gospel Reading: John 12:9-19

     Jesus, in spite of raising the hopes of many, and raising the ire of some among your people, You continued to proclaim and enact God’s reign in ways that often confused, but that were consistent with God’s desire to forgive, heal, liberate, and unite God’s people to declare God’s praise and bless all nations.
     In the face of peril, You went to the cultural center of your people, and were acclaimed as rescuer, representative of God, and sovereign. For a moment, at least, you were recognized as the fulfillment of many prophecies and many dreams.
     You knew that the coming days would bring heightened resistance to the renewing work God was doing through You. You knew the fickle nature of our hearts. But you continued to pursue your objective and act in obedience to the One who sent You.
     Jesus, we acclaim You as God’s Chosen and Anointed One. We cry, “Save us!” believing that You have done so, and will do so, just as the One who sent You has done, many times, in covenant partnership with Israel. Let our moments of clarity about who You are provide not only the fulfillment of ecstatic hopes, but the foundation and impetus for the slow steady walk of friendship and obedience to which You call us.
     We acclaim You with joy! You are our hope! Enable us to follow You all the way to the cross.* Amen.

*See Mark 8:34; Matthew 16:24; and Luke 9:23, in their contexts.

Lenten Prayer – Day 27 – Fifth Friday (March 19, 2021)
Gospel Reading: John 11:55-12:8

     Jesus, as your time drew near, You were being sought by people with two radically opposed motives. Some sought you in order to test, discredit, arrest, abuse, and bring You to shame. Others sought You to share hospitality and demonstrate devotion.
     Faith in You has grown within us, but we cannot assume that we would have responded in trusting or loving ways had we lived in other times. We acknowledge that our faith, often small, is not an achievement, but a gift that flows from your presence among us. Keep us receptive to your presence and your gift. Enable us to trust You in the circumstances that we find most challenging.
     Enable us to build upon your gift by acting with the forgiveness and compassion that You showed to others. Free us to be extravagant in our devotion. And as we practice devotion to You, help us to practice solidarity with and generosity toward those who are commonly pushed to the side in our society’s idolatry of beauty, power and wealth.*
     We follow You because You have transformed us as You revealed the compassionate heart of God to us. Enable us to follow your example, and the example of God, who sent You.** Amen.

*See Deuteronomy 15:1-11; Luke 4:14-21; Matthew 25:31-46
**See Ephesians 5:1

Lenten Prayer – Day 26 – Fifth Thursday (March 18, 2021)
Gospel Reading: John 10:1-6 or 10:1-18

     Jesus, we rejoice that You have drawn near your people - your sheep – to offer care, protection, and life that is filled with your generous gifts. We rejoice that You live in intimacy with us, and with a vast multitude. And we are thankful that those who are attentive can learn to discern your voice while other voices compete with lavish enticements that lead toward danger and destruction. Give us ears to hear! Give us energy and courage to follow where You lead. 

     Enable us to walk through the door to life that You open to us by your own life and death. Enable us to trust You as we attempt to travel with each other on our pilgrimage of faith. We rejoice in the fullness we have already experienced in your presence. May we continue to welcome your gifts in order to share them with many others.
     We rejoice that You have given yourself completely for us. You have sought us, and led us, with such tenacious and durable love that we trust You as our only source of sustenance and security.

• You are the Gate to a life of freedom and fruitfulness; 

• You are our Shepherd who leads, guides, and protects. 

• You are the One who gathers us, with your other flocks, to share the benefits of God's reign.     

     We rejoice in You, and lay our lives down for You, as your Spirit enables us to do so. Amen.

Lenten Prayer - Day 25 - Fifth Wednesday (March 17, 2021)
Gospel Reading: John 9:1-7

     Jesus, Giver of Sight to the blind, help us to see.
     Help us to comprehend the massive damage that sin does to individual lives, families, communities, political structures, and the entire planet.
     Help us not to treat sin lightly. Help us not to assume that our sins are of no significance and that they do not damage or disfigure our lives, or the lives of others around us. Help us to tell the truth about our sins and allow your Spirit to transform our lives.
     Help us not to assume that all who suffer do so because of their own choices, or the choices of others who are near or dear to them. Help us not to assume we know the truth of those who suffer, so that we do not provide misguided diagnosis and counsel to them, as Job's friends did. But help us be willing to sit with them through their pain. Help us to be willing to wait for your touch and your healing command with them.
     We know that You are able to bring healing that shatters our expectations. And we know that You endured the night "when no one can work," and, by God's power, emerged into the light as Light, again. Enable us to walk in the light of your presence and shine your light into the world through acts of justice and love. Amen.

Lenten Prayer - Day 24 - Fourth Tuesday (March 16, 2021)
Gospel Reading: John 8:31-38

     Jesus, help us to hear and obey your instruction. Help us to follow in the way that You lead us. Let your life guide the shape of our discipline. As we obey your commands, show us the truth, and free us from all that binds and enslaves us.

     Do not let us use our heritage in faith, our national heritage, or any other traditions that have shaped our lives, as justification for resistance to your call to a more robust and risky faith that expresses the true freedom that You wish to create among us.

     Forgive us when we allow ourselves to be deceived by the deadly ways of violence. Forgive us when we cling to lies for our own advantage, at least as we imagine it.

     Let us live as full participants in God's family, God's reign, and honor You by the way that we heed your words and follow your example. May your Spirit give us the energy and courage we need to live as the new people God was creating through You. Amen.

Lenten Prayer - Day 23 - Fourth Monday (March 15, 2021)
Gospel Reading: John 8:21-30

     Jesus, enable us to see You for who You are. Open our hearts and minds to understand enough to respond to You in openness and trust. Enable us to discern the qualitative difference between your life and ours, to see that your life is a life of depth and mystery because of your relationship to and revelation of the Holy One.

     Forgive us when we are resistant to your instruction. Forgive us when we resist You as the most complete image of the Holy One and the most complete example of faithful human life.

     We confess that we know that You are one with the Father because You have been lifted up, before us, as the self-giving expression of God's love. Had You not laid down your life, we would still be lost, without understanding, dead in our sins.

     Let our lives be fully linked to yours, and, through You, to the Holy One. Overcome any resistance that still remains in us. We trust in You to act for our salvation and God's glory. Amen.

Prayer for March 14-20, 2021
Lenten Prayer - Fourth Sunday (March 14, 2021)
Sermon Text: Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

That we may stimulate renewed faith, new faith, and good works as we tell of your unfailing love

O God, we give joyful thanks to You! We praise your name!

We tell our stories to one another in order to stimulate faith and good works. We tell our stories to our neighbors and to the world in order to move others to respond to your unfailing love.

Help us remember the variety of ways that You have worked salvation in our lives. Help us to remember the deliverance from oppression, freedom from prison, healing from sickness and disease, and provision of sustenance in places and times of famine and deprivation that generated new hope and new life among us.

Remind us that You heard our cries, You saved from distress, and You practiced unfailing love, even when we rebelled against You and chose foolish, self-defeating, self-diminishing ways in service of gods of our own construction and imagination.

Let our lives overflow with praise as we remember and tell of all that You have done for us. Amen.

Lenten Prayer - Day 22 - Fourth Saturday (March 13, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Luke 12:54-13:5

     God of wisdom and insight, give us understanding of ourselves and the world in which we live. Forgive us for acting as though we know it all when we find it difficult to discern the work that You are doing among us, through your Living Word, and through the movement of your Spirit, here and now.

     Help us to discern right from wrong, to see the ways that our choices and actions are part of a matrix of predatory exploitation that ravages the lives of many for the benefit of a few. Help us to recognize that when You bring judgment, You will right the radical imbalance of power and wealth that most of us accept, most of the time.

     Enable us to follow Jesus in resisting corrupt power structures that unleash violence and death instead of renewing life among us. At the same time, help us to live, individually and communally, in fruitful ways that bring health, joy, justice and peace to neighbors and nations. 

     Forgive us when we put on an act of goodness and compassion. Forgive us when we live in fruitless ways that neither glorify You nor enrich the lives of our neighbors. Keep pruning and fertilizing our lives with your love in ways that energize us to live in new ways. Amen.

Lenten Prayer - Day 21 - Fourth Friday (March 12, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Luke 12:32-40

     Help us, Generous One, to trust that You will fulfill your promise to make us participants of your reign. Help us to trust that You will provide adequately for our needs. From that trust, enable us to share the resources You have given, in thankful and generous ways, with our neighbors. 

     Enable us to value what You value. Enable us to pursue and treasure things that are enduring. May your will be done in our lives, each day, with hearts full of gratitude and joy.

     Forgive us when we are diverted by other values and chase after other gods. Forgive us when we close our hearts toward our neighbors, and refuse to share what You have given.

Forgive us when we forget the life that You have created us for and for which You provide the guidance of your Spirit, and many other resources.

     Help us to live in constant readiness for your presence. Help us to act as good stewards of the many resources You have provided in order to enrich our neighbors and renew your creation. We await, with hope, the full arrival of your reign among us. Amen. 

Lenten Prayer - Day 20 - Fourth Thursday (March 11, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Luke 12:22-31

     Christ Jesus, we rejoice in You! We welcome your instruction! We plead for your help!

     We have been conditioned to worry. Many of the messages that we receive within our families, congregations, communities, and society at large, say, "You don't have enough!" "You are not adequately supplied!" or "You are not enough!"

     We are encouraged to scramble and grasp for more. We are given goals that supposedly bring us a more complete, meaningful, and secure life. The messages and goals that pound or nag at us, day after day, typically make us more anxious. Many of us cannot sleep at night, or focus on important tasks and relationships during the day, because we are overwhelmed with worry about the things that we imagine we need.

     You bring an alternative message. You utter an alternative demand: "Don't worry! Don't settle for a diminished understanding of life! You cannot enhance or lengthen your life by worry. So stop! Trust God, who values You and provides for You and acts as Loving Parent toward You!" 

     Jesus, Teacher, may your Spirit comfort us, remove our anxiety. and enable us to trust, courageously, in the One whose reign provides in abundance for those who trust. Amen.

Lenten Prayer - Day 19 - Fourth Wednesday (March 10, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Luke 12:13-21

     God, our Provider, we often think about wealth and possessions outside of the context of the relationships of which we are a part. We forget the ways in which we are dependent upon others, and the ways that others are dependent upon us. Most important, we forget that we are dependent upon You, and act thanklessly in spite of the many ways that You have provided for us, enriched our lives, and filled us with joy.

     We want more, whether we need more of anything or not. Help us to guard our hearts and minds against greed, no matter how subtly it may draw us. Help those of us who have abundant possessions to acknowledge that we do. Help us to recognize that our lives are lived in a matrix of relationships, that You have created, that give us many opportunities to see beyond ourselves - beyond our comfort and satisfaction - and to respond with generosity and joy to our neighbors as we respond with commitment and love to You.

     Do not let ample resources fool us into believing that we stand alone. Forgive us when we are filled with such arrogant pride. Enable us to be rich in love to You and to share gladly what You give. We pray in the name of the One who was your gift, the One who gave all. Amen.

     

Lenten Prayer - Day 18 - Third Tuesday (March 9, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Luke 12:1-10 

     Jesus, thank You for your warning. Help us to discern when those whose discipline impresses us, and outstrips our own, are putting on an act in order to gain the approval of other people, particularly those with power, wealth, and religious authority. Help us not to be unduly influenced by their façade. Help us not to be led into idolatrous and self-serving practices by those who are primarily concerned with their own interests and image.

     Even more urgently, we ask that You will give us discernment of our own tendency to act for the recognition and acclaim of others, instead of giving all that we have and are in order to love and glorify You and love and enrich the lives of our many and diverse neighbors.

     Align our perspective and behavior with your values. Banish our fear of those who might do us harm if we follow You in courageous and durable fidelity. 

     We rejoice that God places significant value on our lives. We rejoice that God demonstrated that through your compassionate acts of healing and liberation, your forceful proclamation of truth, and your suffering servanthood. 

     As we follow You, and continue to learn from You, may our lives be fully reconciled to God and fully lived for God each day. Amen. 

Lenten Prayer - Day 17 - Third Monday (March 8, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Mark 12:38-44

     You who call us to yourself, and call us by your name, enable us to discern when those who provide guidance for our faith are doing so from a desire to provide compassionate care, or when they are doing so in order to enhance or enrich themselves at the expense of others. 

     For those of us who do teach and preach your people, enable us to see our own motives clearly. Help us not to compete for notice, honor, titles, income, or any other prize that diverts us from our role of bringing others into your presence by our prayer and preaching, and by a broad array of compassionate acts.

     Enable us to trust You boldly. Enable us to give ourselves to You wholly, just as the exploited widow did as she placed her resources in your care for your use.

     You have given yourself to us, wholly, in Christ Jesus. Enable us to trust You wholly, and give ourselves and our resources to You without reserve. We trust You with all that we are!

Amen.

     

Prayer for March 7-13, 2021
Lenten Prayer - Third Sunday - March 7, 2021
Sermon Text: Psalm 19

That we may walk in the way of life that is free and full

God of all creation, we rejoice that You have made us for yourself. We rejoice that with the eyes of faith we are able to perceive your glory as It is displayed, wordlessly, through the wonders of the environment in which we live. In your works, we encounter simplicity, complexity, beauty, and mystery that give us delight and pause.

We thank You for your law, your instruction, that You have given as a gift of mercy that guides us away from brutal and enslaving ways of living with each other in your world. We thank You for the constant reminder that the righteousness and justice You enable are both foundation and fruit of lives of love and joy.

Thank You for refreshing us as we reflect and act upon your law. Thank You for enlightening us and filling us with joy as we act as your covenant people by heeding your word.

We rejoice that we are not fated to enslavement to human enemies or brutal powers, nor to our own momentary whims. Thank You for the rich treasure of your instruction. Enable us to see ourselves clearly as we meditate upon your word. Guide us in the way of life that is free and full because it is lived in conversation and covenant with You. Amen.

Lenten Prayer - Day 16 - Third Saturday (March 6, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Mark 11:15-19

     O God, we have come to believe that Jesus represents the status quo for the dominant culture, so we typically fail to perceive that he was a huge threat to the wealthy, powerful, and comfortable, particularly those who managed social currency through the economics of power and predation, as well as through a spirituality of coercion and exclusion.

     We tend to see those features as part of ancient history and fail to see how they are closely replicated in our own time and experience, so that our places of faith are often places of collusion with dominant power that wounds, controls, and excludes while blocking the efforts of those who long for your presence but do not know how to cry out to You.

     Enable us to follow Jesus with courage, energy, and hope, even if it means disrupting structures to which we have become accustomed. Overcome our fear of losing control by helping us to abandon ourselves to You and your purpose for a world of holiness, forgiveness, peace, justice, joy, freedom, and fruitfulness as defined by the life of Jesus and the guidance of your Spirit.

     We have many idols that seem less challenging than the way of Jesus. Many days we want the easy way. Forgive us! Awaken us! Energize us for life as Jesus' disciples. Amen.

Lenten Prayers - Day 15 - Third Friday (March 5, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Matthew 21:33-44

     You who give sight to the blind, enable us to see ourselves clearly. Enable us to recognize the ways that we have been opportunistic and greedy with your resources. Enable us to admit that we have attempted to plunder the fruitfulness of your creation in order to possess and rule it for ourselves, without consideration of your desire.

     Forgive us for being poor stewards of your resources!

     Forgive us for our greediness!

     Forgive us for attempting to usurp your sovereignty over all that You have made!   

     Forgive us for the covetousness by which we justify violence of many varieties and in many degrees of severity.

     Forgive us for the intensity of resistance to Christ Jesus that has characterized our action.

     Continue the transforming work that You have begun in our lives. May your Spirit move us away from greed and covetousness to wise, humble, and faithful stewardship of all of your resources. You are our Sovereign. We serve You in glad obedience. Amen.

Lenten Prayer - Day 14 - Third Thursday (March 4, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Matthew 21:12-22

     O God, it is difficult to fully comprehend what You were doing through Jesus, particularly in these enacted parables of judgment. Some of us draw the conclusion that Jesus was rejecting his people and rejecting Judaism to start a new religion. But how can that be, when Jesus was a Jewish person who was identified as the fulfillment of the instruction, warning, and promise of Law and Prophets; when he was identified as God's Anointed One who came as God's Agent of Salvation for Israel, then for all peoples; when his own instruction was based on Israel's scriptures; and, when his earliest followers remained faithful to their Jewish roots and appealed, first, to the Jewish community in the preaching of good news?

     Forgive us when we assume that You have rejected your chosen people and moved in a completely different direction with the Jesus movement. Forgive us when we move from this misunderstanding to violence against your chosen ones.

     Enable us to understand how heaven and earth are linked together, most fully, in Jesus. Energize us to continue the forgiving, healing, liberating work that he did among us. 

     Forgive us when we fail to bear the fruit of compassion and justice, in our individual and communal lives, but assume that our call to be your people, and our receiving of your gifts, is all that is required of us. Enable us to follow Jesus, with gladness, in the proclamation of good news to the poor, and in healing, liberating, unifying works of mercy that often disrupt the usual way we do things.

     May your Spirit give us discernment of your presence and action among us and energize us for risky faithfulness. Amen.

     

Lenten Prayer - Day 13 - Third Wednesday (March 3, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Matthew 6:7-15

     Listening One, we rejoice in You! We rejoice in your creative love, in the ways You have revealed yourself to us in Christ Jesus, and in your readiness to answer prayer.

     Do not let us babble incessantly when we pray, but help us to align both our prayer and our daily lives with your reign of compassion, forgiveness, justice, and peace. We await, with hope, the day when your reign will be fully consummated, and fully evident, throughout your creation, when all people, and every created thing, will be fully united with You through Christ Jesus. 

     God of all, You are holy . . . wonderful . . . glorious! Let our lives show, each day, that we affirm your incomparability from the depth of our being. 

     We trust in You for our most basic need, in fact, for every need. Remind us that we do not live by bread alone. Fully banish anxiety from our hearts and minds.

     We acknowledge our sinfulness and ask You for forgiveness. As we receive your forgiveness, enable us to relinquish control over others and forgive every manner of debt that is owed to us.

     By the guidance of your Spirit, lead us past the pitfalls of temptation. Energize us for resistance to the one who would exploit our weaknesses and ensnare us in idolatry and all the other self-defeating sins, and injustice, that flow from it.

     We pray in hope, as the One whom You sent taught us. Amen.

Follow this prayer with the Lord's Prayer. 

Lenten Prayer - Day 12 - Second Tuesday (March 2, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Matthew 6:1-6 

     God our Maker, Redeemer, and Sustainer, we rejoice in You! We commit ourselves to your service and pledge our loyalty to You for as long as You sustain us. Enable us to act in faithfulness without requiring that there be an audience to observe our action. Do not let us shy away from faithful action when it must be done in public, but keep us from placing the adulation of others above the reward that we may receive from You in the timing and measure of your choosing.

     Enable us to grow skilled in acting with love for our neighbors even as we grow more deeply attuned to your Guiding Spirit. Keep us from being overly self-conscious about either our acts of generosity or our practice of prayer.

     You have made us in your image. May we reflect your wise and generous love into the world You love. Help us each day. We pray in the name of the One who fully embodied your image in our presence. Amen.

Lenten Prayer - Day 11 - Second Monday (March 1, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:38-48

     Jesus help us - individually and communally - to resist our natural inclination to take vengeance on others. Enable us to follow your example by not returning insult for insult or injury for injury. Let us respond with generosity toward those who make demands on our resources, including our time and energy. Let us give generously to those who ask for help or request a loan. Give us discernment, in each situation, of the response that most clearly follows your example and reflects the glory of God.

     Enable us to practice love even toward those we think of as enemies. Help us to remember the downpour of sunshine and rain that God has sent, into our lives, in order to fill them and make them fruitful. Help us remember that God loved us even when we made ourselves God's enemies. Enable us to emulate God and follow You by loving others who have become our enemies. Let our responses fulfill the purpose for which we have been created, redeemed, and renewed. We follow You and pray that any whom we consider enemies, or who consider us their enemies, may be drawn into the circle of your love, so that we may trust and praise You together. Amen.