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.

Prayer for December 26, 2021-January 1, 2022
Sermon Text: Luke 2:41-52

That our identity may always be in You

Living God, we worship You! We rejoice in your ability to act among us in surprising ways. We rejoice that You have come near in the life of Jesus Christ. We praise You for the hope that You instill in us through the story of Jesus and by the work of your Spirit in our lives.

Loving God, we identify ourselves in so many ways. Enable us to identify ourselves primarily in terms of our relationship to You. Help us to think first, “I am God’s child. I am valued and loved. I am dedicated to God’s word. I will be obedient to God’s instruction. I must be about God’s work by continuing the ministry that Jesus passed on to his disciples.”

Let our identity always be in You, through Jesus Christ. Help us not to forget that You have created and redeemed us for yourself.

Let this day, and every day, be a day of rejoicing in all that You have done for us. May that move us to lives of abundant generosity. Amen.

Prayer for December 19-25, 2021
Sermon Text: Luke 1:39-55

That we may say "Yes" to You and glorify You in gratitude

God, our Creator and Redeemer, we rejoice in You. We rejoice because You fill our lives with your presence. You invite and enable us to participate in meaningful ways in the work that You are doing to restore all of creation through Christ Jesus.

God, we rejoice because You remember your covenant with Abraham to bless all nations through him. You keep the humble in mind and make a way for them amid the loud, competitive, and even abusive claims and actions of the proud.

God, we rejoice because You act in both subtle and dramatic ways that alter human history and individual fortunes. You act mercifully and bless widely and in unexpected ways.

Wondrous One, enable us to say “Yes” to your call upon our lives. May we glorify You in gratitude, discern your intention for our lives and for all of creation, and speak and live in prophetic ways that witness both to our neighbors and to powers that resist your life-giving ways. Amen. 

Prayer for December 12-18, 2021
Sermon Text: Luke 3:7-18 

That we may truly repent of the ways we dishonor You and devalue our neighbors

God of wonders, we worship You with hope and joy! But we also worship You with a measure of trepidation. We hear your prophet calling those who are or would be baptized with words of promise and words of warning.

We hear, specifically, a call to no easy spirituality, but to lives in which we do the work of repentance: changing acts of selfishness, injustice, and deceit into generosity, justice, and truthfulness. We hear that call as one that engages every dimension of our lives, including our work, which we so commonly treat as beyond the scope of your concern.

We hear, as well, the promise of a baptism that immerses our lives in your Spirit and in the purifying passion of your love and holiness. And we know that our repentance is barely begun unless your Spirit works in and among us. We cannot transform ourselves, but You can.

God, sometimes the “good news” sounds more like threat. But we thank You that your prophets, including Jesus, your Chosen One, pointed to the dangers of sustained action or movement in the direction of personal and communal destruction.

May we truly repent of the many ways we dishonor You and devalue our neighbors. Amen.

Prayer for December 5-11, 2021
Sermon Text: Luke 3:1-6

That we may answer the call to rearrange our lives and our world for your coming

God of all, the Voice crying in the wilderness still cries out in our day. We still hear the urgent exhortation to level mountains, fill in valleys, and straighten out crooked places. We still hear the promise that “all people” will see your salvation.

We know, God, that the exhortation of your prophet was not just about landscaping and roadbuilding, but that his words echoed those of other prophets who called out to your people, in other eras. They called your people to practice justice instead of injustice, to eliminate the vast inequality of resources that makes life excessively full for some and unbearably empty for others. We know that your prophet was calling us to lives rearranged and transformed by your forgiving, compassionate, generous, just, and peaceful reign among us. And we know that the salvation the Voice announced was preparation for and pointer to Jesus, the Christ, in whom we have witnessed the drama and glory of your salvation, and have seen the full embodiment of your love.

We rejoice in You! We rejoice that You have not abandoned us to our failed efforts to create the good life on our own and in competition with one another, but have shaped us anew for shared life in Jesus. Amen.