WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

Day 2 – Thursday

Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-24

     Creator of all, in our arrogance we forget that we are finite, created beings. We forget that the freedom and joy You have given to us are lived within limits that are not burdensome. We act as though no limits apply to us. So, we rebel against your kind instruction and grasp for everything that we can reach.

     We accept no limits on our imagination or desires, but seek to gratify every one of them. We will not be restrained in our use of the world’s resources. We will not limit our spending and accumulation of possessions. We will not say no to any of our sexual appetites. We will not refrain from exploiting neighbors near and far.

     We have believed lies about our limitlessness and have worshiped our own reflection. And we have occasionally had our world come crashing down around us because of our choices.

     Forgive us for our arrogance! Forgive us for our rebelliousness! Forgive us for wanting to usurp your role or at least make ourselves your equal. Forgive us for seeing every limit as a restraint and for trying to be our own autonomous gods. 

     Forgive us! Do new creation in our lives so that they demonstrate our dependence upon and intimacy with You. Amen.

WISE STEWARDS: LENTEN PRAYERS 2017

     As I have thought about doing another Lenten prayer guide, it seems like God has directed my thoughts to one theme: money, wealth and stewardship (which may sound like more than one theme), and has diverted my thoughts when I have tried to think of other ideas.

     I have attempted to think and act wisely in the use of resources that God has provided for me and my family, but I believe there is much room for growth in my life, and probably in yours too.

     These prayers are not intended as little sermons. I am not interested in creating guilt trips for anyone. I am interested in helping us prayerfully explore our attitudes and responses to wealth, in its many forms, so that our lives reflect biblical concerns for daily trust in God and daily love and justice for our neighbors. Let this be our prayer!

     As usual, I have written these prayers in the first person plural (“we” and “us”), believing that all of our prayer is part of the prayer of the church and that God’s word is directed towards the whole people of God, not just to isolated individuals.

     I have made some choices about scriptural passages that I will respond to in prayer, but do not have a strong sense, yet, about how the prayers for the forty days will hold together. They may lead in directions of which I am presently unaware. Thank you for joining me in this journey.

Day 1 - Ash Wednesday

Psalm 24:1

     Wondrous Creator, we worship you in the midst of a world of amazing beauty, complexity and fruitfulness. We praise You for your wonderful works! You have called them “Good!” and have taken delight in them, and we have too.

     But we often forget that You created by your own word, out of your own wisdom, for your own delight. We forget that we are stewards and caretakers, not absolute owners. We forget that your world is not ours to use and abuse in any way that comes to mind.

     Forgive us for our forgetfulness. Forgive us for our presumption. Forgive us for plundering beauty and creating ugliness, for turning fruitfulness to desolation, and for destroying life.

     Forgive us for our greed that fuels excessive extraction, aggressive and unjust confiscation, widespread starvation and rapid extinction. 

     Help us to remember that we are your creatures. Help us to remember our role as caretakers whose task is to enhance the beauty and fruitfulness of your creation. Help us to alter our practices of consumption. Transform our minds so that we may act with wisdom. Amen.

Prayer for February 26-March 4, 2017 

Sermon Text: Matthew 17:1-9

That we may keep moving in the direction You send us

We have had glimpses of your glory, O Christ. Sometimes they give us renewed energy for lives of bold witness and service. Sometimes they merely baffle us and leave us wondering what we should do in order to respond adequately to your majestic presence.

Help us to recognize that your presence and your glory are not within our control. Help us to open our ears, hearts and minds in order to hear you fully as You speak to the circumstances of our lives and guide our efforts to live in deep fidelity to You.

Our faith is often weaker than we imagine, but energize us, each day, to keep moving in the direction that You send us. Enable us to follow courageously even when it seems clear that the way ahead may include suffering.  

We believe the Voice that claimed You as beloved, pleasing Son, and so we follow no matter what. Amen.

Prayer for February 19-25, 2017 

Sermon Text: Matthew 5:38-48

That you will transform us beyond our violence, revenge, hatred and miserliness

Christ Jesus, You challenge us beyond our favored practices! We are accustomed to protecting ourselves and attempting to manage our own security. How can we turn aside from the revenge that has become such a valued practice among us? How can we allow ourselves to be shamed? How can we allow our resources to be confiscated, yet give more than asked? How can we walk side by side with our oppressors? To whom shall we lend with our resources that never seem to be enough?

You must work a deep transformation within us if we are to move beyond our violence, revenge, hatred and miserliness.  You must transform us if we are to overcome the distance we create between ourselves and those who wrong us. You must make us new people if we are to practice the prayer and love for enemies to which You call us.  

We are deeply flawed. And most of the time we don’t want our flaws healed or corrected. But we do want to follow You in fidelity, so we submit ourselves to the transforming work that You must do in order to shape our lives so that they reflect the perfection of God—your Father and ours. Amen.

Prayer for February 12-18, 2017
Sermon Text: Matthew 5:21-37

That our lives may pulse with vitality that echoes your own

O Christ, we are continuously tempted to push the limits to see how close to the fringes of fidelity we can come without courting judgment or catastrophe.

You call us to another way. You call us to lives in which hearts and minds are deeply tuned to the desire of God and in which obedience is offered as a response of gratitude and gladness.

Tune our lives so that they pulse with vitality that echoes your own. Remove violence from our hearts. Remove our lust for control over others, especially those who appear more vulnerable than us. Eliminate our desire to treat relationships as disposable commodities when we grow tired of them. Enable us to speak truthfully, without qualifying our words in ways that manipulate others. 

Enable us to follow You in every practice of faithfulness. Amen.

Prayer for February 5-11, 2017 

Sermon Text: Matthew 5:13-20

That we may flavor the world with humility, justice, mercy, purity and peace

Christ Jesus, we rejoice that You have come as the embodiment of the Law and Prophets. You have come as the fullest expression of the divine will and have practiced fidelity to God’s desire in the fullest possible measure. You have done what God’s people had been unable to do and what we can only approximate by your example and assistance.

Enable us to be your faithful followers. Enable us to practice fidelity that reflects the depth of your desire for the world.

Enable us to be salt and light in the world, particularly by our unity as your people, which has great power to convince others of your presence and reality among us. Let our lives flavor the world with humility, justice, mercy, purity and peace that reflect your reign and move us toward the complete reconciliation of all things for which You have come among us.  

We rejoice in your presence among us! Amen.

Prayer for January 29-February 4, 2017 

Sermon Text: Matthew 5:1-12

That we may receive your good news and generous gifts with gladness

Christ Jesus, when we hear your words of blessing, we find it very difficult not to turn it into a string of commands about how we should be living our lives. It is much easier for us to think in terms of obligation and obedience than it is to receive good news and generous gifts. We want to feel as though we have earned our way into your affection and your reign.

We know obedience is part of the life of discipleship, but, in this moment, enable us to hear the gospel as your word of blessing, your promise of renewal and restoration of the world of human relationships, your work of creating a new community out of people, including us, who often seem to lack qualifications to be your people and experience your blessing.

Enable us to receive your reign among us rather than grasping for everything we can get our hands on. Comfort those who grieve among us. Make us just and holy people. Let mercy and peace flow from pure hearts. Enable us to see God’s presence in you and in your people as we await the day when we shall see God face to face. Enable us to endure insult, rejection and abuse with patient hope. 

We rejoice in you! Our hearts are gladdened by your presence! Amen.