Prayer for March 27-April 2, 2022
Sermon Text: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

That we may celebrate and live in gratitude with all your deeply loved children

God of all, we rejoice that You wait for us, even seek actively for us, when we have forgotten You, wandered from You, or otherwise lost ourselves in pursuits that we deem more compelling or more reliable than your continuous presence and wise guidance.

God, You know the ways that we have devalued and diminished our own lives. You know the times when we have settled for slop instead of receiving the abundant nourishment that You offer by your Spirit. We cram ourselves full of empty calories and useless information. We attach ourselves to vain causes for our own self-inflation. We attempt to separate ourselves from You in order to create independent lives from the resources we expect You to provide, but for which we are unwilling to make any durable commitments.

You have waited patiently for us. You have watched for us to appear in the distance. You have welcomed us back and celebrated our return.

Don’t let us be belligerent and self-righteous when You welcome lost wanderers. Help us to recognize that You have provided everything for us. Help us to celebrate and live in gratitude with all your deeply loved children. Amen.

Prayer for March 20-26, 2022
Sermon Text: Isaiah 55:1-9

That we may release our grasp on that which could never sustain us and trust in You

God, our Provider, help us to trust in You completely.

We are so easily deceived by marketing hype that wants us to believe that we truly need things that are unnecessary and often harmful for our well-being, as well as the well-being of our communities and your creation.

But these forms of hype just build on our prior inclination for self-deception. We want what we want and we are willing to rationalize our desires. We are covetous and grasping. We acquire more and more because we are spiritually impoverished and will use anything to fill the hollow within us.

In spite of our need and in spite of your generous invitation and many gifts, we settle for junk and junk food, instead of receiving true sustenance from You. We toil endlessly for trash and trinkets, enslaving ourselves to what is ultimately meaningless.

Enable us to release our grasp on that which could never free or sustain us. Enable us to trust You fully and receive your life-giving gifts with joyful thanksgiving that turns to neighbors and enemies with glad generosity.

We know You are our only source. Help us trust You daily. Amen.

Prayer for March 13-19, 2022
Sermon Text: Luke 13:31-35

That we may remember our share in Jesus' healing ministry and live in solidarity with our most vulnerable neighbors.

God our Maker and Redeemer, as we walk with Jesus, give us clarity of purpose. Help us to remember that we have been called to live in solidarity with our most vulnerable neighbors. Help us to remember that we have been given a share in the healing and liberating ministry of Jesus.

We cannot remember and act by our own intellect, ingenuity, and initiative, but need the guidance and energy that your Spirit gives as we devote ourselves to your reign among us.

May the example of Jesus and the presence of your Spirit enable us to stand firm against any resistance to our efforts to practice radical love toward both our neighbors and our enemies.

At the same time, may we be continuously guided and enabled to act in compassionate ways and not allow our encounters with resistance to make our hearts callused toward those who need a tender touch.

We rejoice in your energizing presence. Amen.

Prayer for March 6-12, 2022
Sermon Text: Luke 4:1-13

That we may stand firm in your Spirit as we are tempted in many ways

God, our Provider, we trust that You have endowed us with your Spirit. Now, enable us to follow the leading of that Spirit, as we walk with Jesus through times of trial and rejoicing.

May we stand firm in your Spirit when we are tempted, especially during times when we may be weakened by deprivation. May we find clarity of purpose in your Spirit as deprivation enables us to perceive the things that we trust more than we trust You. May your Spirit give us understanding and recall of your word so that we resist and rebuff the words or images of temptation that challenge us.

May your Spirit guide us to trust You fully and devote ourselves to you completely, while leading us away from all presumptuous, self-serving and grandstanding choices.

Enable us to value and seek your reign before everything. Amen.

Prayer for February 27-March 6, 2022
Sermon Text: Luke 9:28-43

That we may perceive your glory and worship You with our whole selves

Jesus, we are overwhelmed by your presence. We are dazzled by your glory. We are amazed to see that your life brings all of the instruction of Torah, and all of the warning and promise of the prophets to fulfillment. You embody all the best that God intends for God’s people and the whole of creation.

In spite of the glory we have seen, we often fail to hear the voice of God that identifies You as Beloved and commands us to listen. In spite of the glory that we have seen we often fail to trust You when our faith is challenged in unexpected ways that seem beyond our ability to respond.

When we perceive your glory, let us respond in worship with our whole selves. When we remember your glory, enable us to trust You to transform our lives, as well as the lives of those who come to us with needs that diminish their humanity.

Enable us to trust You with the future that You are creating before us. Energize us to walk your way with courage. Amen.

Prayer for February 20-26, 2022

Sermon Text: Luke 6:27-38

That we may forgive with the undeserved mercy we have received

Jesus, You ask a lot of us! But we know that You do not ask anything of us that You refused to do yourself.

Some days we have a hard enough time loving the ones who love us and do good to us, let alone loving those whom we identify as enemies, those who oppose us, hate us, curse us, abuse us, confiscate our resources, and, in other ways make life challenging for us.

It is difficult to imagine loving our enemies with the same thought-fulness and generosity that we prefer to show to our closest circles of family and friends. It is difficult to imagine giving without expecting anything back from them. We’d like some kind of return on our investment!

Enable us to be faithful children of the One who is merciful and kind even to the ungrateful and wicked (too often including us!). Transform us by your Spirit. Help us to withhold judgment on others and forgive with the undeserved mercy that we have received so often. Amen.

Prayer for February 13-19, 2022
Sermon Text: Luke 6:17-26

That we may live in commitment to truth and justice enacted by love

Jesus, your word is a source of both hope and worry. You declare that those whose lives are defined by deprivation and grief, and those hated, excluded, and insulted for following You are blessed and should rejoice and jump for joy now, because in the day when God sets everything right, they will be rewarded like the prophets, God’s messengers, who were mistreated by many of their ancestors.

But You also declare that those who are well-supplied, live lives full of laughter, and are lauded by all, are on a dangerous path, because they are enjoying the benefits and reputation that false prophets gained by saying what their audience wanted to hear instead of calling them to heed God’s instruction and commands.

Give us discernment of where our lives are less fully aligned with your instruction than we imagine. Transform us and energize us to live in commitment to truth and justice enacted in love, even when that makes our daily lives more difficult and causes others to insult and reject us. Amen.

Prayer for February 6-12, 2022
Sermon Text: Luke 5:1-11

That we may be fully open to your word that alters everything

Jesus, enable us to recognize your authority whenever you make a request of us, instruct, command, or make promises to us.

Enable us to recognize that You speak words of life and that as we heed your words, we may experience the fruitfulness and fullness of life that God intends for us.

As we heed your word, You overcome our fatigue and energize new obedience. You astonish us by your wisdom and generous provision. You show us our great need of your transforming work in our lives. And You open our hearts to the new future that You are creating and for our role as participants in spreading your good news.

Enable us to be constantly and fully open to your word that alters everything. Amen.

Prayer for January 30 - February 5, 2022
Sermon Text: Luke 4:21-30 

That You may overcome our resistance, reluctance, and defiance for new life

God, we think we know your will, ways, and abilities so well that we know exactly what You have in mind and exactly what the limits of your involvement in our lives is.

We do not care for surprises, and we are not overjoyed to have unexpected ability, wisdom, compassion, or generosity displayed in our midst.

We are resistant when Jesus speaks to us with an authority that challenges our settled ways and calls us to new forms of action. We are reluctant to hear that Jesus identifies his ministry most closely with those who are poor, wounded, and bound, those who are unable to make a way for themselves in the competitive and predatory structures that demand our allegiance. We are defiant in the face of Jesus’ demand that we live as devoted agents of your reign in your world.

Forgive us for the many ways that we resist your Living Word. Soften our hearts. Breathe new life into us, and through us to our many neighbors. Amen.

Prayer for January 23-30, 2022
Sermon Text: Luke 4:14-21

That we may follow Christ in compassionate, healing, liberating practices

Jesus, in you the covenant promises of God have been fulfilled among us:

         Good News for people in poverty,

         Release for prisoners,

         Sight for blind persons,

         Liberty for those trapped in oppression,

         A Jubilee of debt forgiveness and sabbath rest for humans and land.

In you, God has done a new thing that we could not do for ourselves. In You, God has shaped a livable future for all.

Forgive us when we resist the redeeming, renewing work You have initiated among us. Forgive us when we refuse to follow when it means giving up the huge advantages we enjoy over many neighbors. Forgive us when we refuse solidarity and unity with those whose needs and wounds seem too obvious to us.

Enable us to follow You in compassionate, healing, liberating, life-giving practices. May we be energized by God’s Spirit to follow your example. Amen.

Prayer for January 2-8, 2022
Sermon Text: John 1:1-18 

That we may rejoice daily in the Source of all we are

Christ Jesus, we praise You as

     Living Word
     Creator
     True Light
     Life
     One and Only Son.

We rejoice that You embodied God’s presence when You came and lived among us. We rejoice that You revealed God’s glory to us. We rejoice that your Light was not snuffed by resistance and rejection. We thank You for enabling us to be God’s children. We thank You for giving us the most valuable of gifts. We thank You for helping us live in God’s grace and truth. And we rejoice that through your close relationship with God, we know God too.

Source of all we have and all we are, we rejoice, daily, in You. Amen.