Prayer for April 18-24, 2021
Sermon Text: Luke 24:36-49 

May our experience of your power and vitality energize us for life that is grounded in God's wisdom

Jesus, we praise your name! We celebrate God’s powerful work of new life, begun in You, and continuing in each of us who have been forgiven and transformed by your love. We rejoice that in You God has fulfilled many promises, and we hope in God’s continuing fidelity, which You demonstrated among us.

We know we would have been “startled and frightened,” and probably full of “joy and amazement,” too, had we encountered You after your resurrection. We know, because we are often fearful in the face of new life and transformed reality. We are often confused by the work that God does to bring newness among us when we are convinced that everything is settled and there is no possibility for change. Through You, God continuously challenges our expectations, experience, and perceptions.

Keep startling, amazing, and scaring us. Keep filling us with unexpected joy. Let our experiences of your presence and power, and of the vitality of your word, move us toward, and energize us for life that is grounded in God’s wisdom. May God’s will be declared and enacted among us in fresh ways today, and in the coming days. Amen.

Prayer for April 11-17, 2021
Sermon Text: John 20:19-31

That we may boldy and consistently acclaim You as Lord and God

Jesus, we rejoice that amidst the great grief and fear that your disciples experienced at the time of your death, You returned to them, newly alive by God’s power. You spoke peace to them. You showed your wounds. You breathed your Spirit, your life, into them. You gave them authority to offer or withhold forgiveness as your Spirit gave them discernment.

Like Thomas, some of us are unwilling to accept the witness of others that You have met them, proclaimed peace, and breathed your own breath into them. We want more and sometimes create our own criteria for belief. We even cling to doubt and unbelief as though they were badges of honor.

As with Thomas and your other disciples, You meet us in unexpected moments. Sometimes we don’t recognize your presence and action. At other times, we are overwhelmed by your presence and can only cry out, as we do in this moment, “My Lord and my God!” We rejoice in You. Amen.

Prayer for April 4-10, 2021
Easter (April 4, 2021)
Sermon Text: John 20:1-18

That we will see Jesus in the faces of those he identified with most fully

Jesus, we rejoice in You! We rejoice that God has raised You from death and given You the name that is above every name.* We rejoice that You are our Advocate** who continuously intercedes on our behalf.+

We trust in You! We hope in You! But we confess that the new life You received from God has often caused us much confusion, doubt, and fear. At no point of your life, death, or resurrection, have You matched our personal preferences and expectations. You have constantly challenged our assumptions and our beliefs, in order to draw us more completely to the place where You could reveal God’s compassion, forgiveness, liberation, justice, and peace to us.

We rejoice that creation is new in You. We rejoice that in You, God’s reign has come on earth, as in heaven. We rejoice that You represent a new way of being human and that You have called and enabled us to follow You.

Because we have seen You in the faces of those with whom You most closely identified, and in our sisters and brothers in faith, we declare, with joy, “I have seen the Lord!” Amen.

*Philippians 2:9 **1 John 2:1 +Romans 8:34 

Lenten Prayer - Day 40 - Seventh Saturday (April 3, 2021)
Gospel Reading: John 19:1-42

     Jesus, we look in sorrow and shame on the cynical coronation to which You were subjected, the piercing thorns and belligerent slaps you endured. We grieve and wonder if we, too, would have cried "Crucify! Crucify!" Our hearts answer, "Yes!"

     So many sought to exercise power over You and assumed that they had real power, even when they were acting in fear. You threatened the very framework of predatory economics and military violence by which those in power attempted to maintain control. You threatened the very framework of belief systems that generated no transformation of human life, no healing, no liberation, no new relationships based in compassion, forgiveness, and generosity.

     "Crucify! Crucify!" the words exploded over You - You who brought forgiveness, new life, healing, and liberation everywhere You went. We are haunted by those words, which may so easily have been our own. 

     In the midst of threatening chaos, You declared, "It is finished." You had answered the call. You had embodied God's character and compassion. You had finished your work. We didn't understand. In fact, we barely understand now. 

     We imagine the scene until the spear pierces your side, then hide our faces. We imagine as  your body is removed, wrapped in spices and linens and placed in a tomb. We turn away, thinking, "It is finished."

Lenten Prayer - Day 39 - Seventh Friday (April 2, 2021)
Gospel Reading: John 18:1-40

     Jesus, we hope in You! We trust You!

     We are thankful that in God's wisdom You lived among us and in solidarity with us, experiencing many of the joys and sorrows that characterize daily life. We rejoice that You identified us as "Friends." 

     But we are sorrowful when we remember that your greatest sorrow was brought about by friends who betrayed You and denied that they knew You. We have lived this experience as betrayer and betrayed, and it shames us to know that we, too, would have failed You in our time of trial, just as many of your closest friends did.

     Forgive us for our fickleness. Forgive us for allowing our personal agendas and fear of suffering to cause us to disown You when our faith is tested in severe ways. Forgive us when violence is our reflex response to fear. 

     Jesus, we grieve that leaders of your faith community conspired with political leadership in order to shame You. We grieve that apathy, cynicism, and deceit characterized the public responses to You. We grieve that your alternative to the death-dealing ways of the world was rejected in favor of continuing service to the powers of violence and death.

     Jesus, these memories leave us in a fog of confusion and regret. Help us to endure until your face shines on our lives again.* Amen.

*See Psalm 80:3, 7, 19

Lenten Prayer - Day 38 - Maundy Thursday (April 1, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Mark 14:12-26

     Jesus, You constantly gave of yourself, throughout your ministry, through preaching and teaching, through acts of healing and liberation, as well as through faithful companionship and acts of service. Now, on the night of your betrayal, You offer yourself in bread and wine, body and blood. You give these in preparation for your complete self-giving through death on a cross.

     Jesus, You amaze in many ways, but perhaps most amazing is that You give yourself completely for those who will, in your greatest hour of need, desert, deny and betray You, - your friends who know You best. 

     It shames us to realize that we, too, often return desertion, denial, and betrayal for your compassionate companionship. We have sold You. We have denied your name, to our shame. We have fled into the night to hide ourselves from danger. We have chosen our own agendas and our own security over companionship and solidarity.  

     Jesus, we are thankful that in your suffering and death, You did not betray, deny, or desert us, but acted out of great friendship and love for us. Amen.