LENTEN PRAYERS

WALKING WITH JESUS

6^th Sunday  

Take a walk, or walk in your imagination.  Remember times when the path you were traveling with Jesus seemed to disappear due to one cause or another.  What did you do?  How long did it take to get back on track?  How did Jesus help and guide you?  Thank God for helping you get back on the path and for the ways that Christ intervened on your behalf.

LENTEN PRAYERS

WALKING WITH JESUS

Day 34: Saturday

Mark 8:14-21

Jesus, give us eyes to see the truth that You reveal to us.  Give us ears to hear your instruction and obey your command.  Give us hearts that are receptive to your presence and leadership.  Freshen our memories so that we remember all that You have done for us and trust You as we encounter similar challenges to the ones You have already guided us through or delivered us from.  Remind us that You are able to act with authority and power in every circumstance, including the new challenges that arise unexpectedly before us.

Teach us how to recognize and resist leadership that would guide us away from the generous, forgiving, just and peaceful reign that You are creating on earth as in heaven.  

We have watched as You generated abundance among us.  We have received your strengthening nurture.  Enable us to practice bold generosity from gratitude, humility and love.  Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS

WALKING WITH JESUS

Day 33: Friday

Mark 8:1-13

Jesus, how quickly we forget what You are able to do.  How  quickly we forget the depths of your compassion and your concern for your people.  But as we walk with You, You keep demonstrating your compassion and power in ways that nourish and strengthen those who seek You.  You repeatedly create and reveal an abundance of resources where we could perceive only their absence.

Open our eyes so we may see more clearly.  Give us understanding of your ability to enact your good will among us.  Give us faith to trust You for what we need and for resources to minister to many others who seek You in hope.  

Use us to demonstrate your love to many people.  Enable us to share the resources You provide with glad generosity.  We know that You are able to work through us in ways that exceed our own resources and expectations, and we trust You to do so.  Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS

WALKING WITH JESUS  

Day 32: Thursday

Mark 7:31-37  

Jesus!—Giver of hearing to the deaf, Giver of speech to the mute—hear our prayer.  Touch us and heal us!  Open our ears so that we may hear your word clearly and obey You with gladness.  Loosen our tongues so that we may give You praise and testify of your goodness and mercy to our families, neighbors, and all with whom we interact.

We rejoice in the ways that You have already healed and empowered us.  We rejoice that You are continually present with us and that You are responsive to our needs as we walk with You.  We are frequently awed in your presence because You do all things well.   

Because You have opened our ears, we hear and obey.  Because You have given us speech, we constantly praise You with joy.  You are worthy of all our devotion!  Amen. 

LENTEN PRAYERS 

WALKING WITH JESUS

Day 31: Wednesday

Mark 7:24-30

Christ Jesus, as we walk with You, we see that many people are drawn to You for many reasons.  Some are merely curious about You, but many seek You when they are confronted with an overwhelming crisis or need, confident that You are able to heal and liberate. 

You enter into dialogue.  You listen and speak.  You make yourself available and vulnerable.  You respond to each one as a unique individual.  You speak words of challenge.  You elicit faith….

And you do heal.  You do liberate from spiritual bondage.  You exercise authority, compassion and power that exceed our imagination.  You bring new life out of chaos.  But you do not always heal quickly and on the spot or in ways that seem magical to us.  You do not always act as we expect.  

We follow You, with the faith that You have brought to life in us, even though we do not always understand what You are saying to us or what you are doing within, among and through us.  Amen.

LENTEN PRAYERS

WALKING WITH JESUS

Day 30: Tuesday

Mark 7:1-23

Jesus, as we walk beside You, give us understanding of the things that really pollute and diminish our lives.  Help us to see the danger that lurks within us and that propels us to act in ways that exploit, harm, deceive and defraud our neighbors. 

Work within us to purify and transform our thoughts.  Enable us to practice obedience from deep devotion to God and God’s instruction.  Eliminate our tendency to judge others based on our notions of faithfulness. 

Turn our hypocrisy to truthful speech and action.  Turn our judgment to encouragement and thoughtful guidance.  Turn our violence to deep compassion.  Turn our anxious cravings to grateful thanksgiving.  Turn our covetousness to generosity.  Turn our pride to humility.  Turn our folly to wisdom.  

Transform us so that the speech and action that flow from our lives demonstrate your loving presence and bear fruit for your generous reign.  Amen.

WALKING WITH JESUS

LENTEN PRAYERS 2015

Flooded trails at Montrose Beach Dunes, Chicago, Illinois, November 1, 2014.

WEEK 6

     Occasionally the trail disappears.  Deluge, rock slide, and avalanche may hide the way forward.  But when we are on the trail, we seldom have the option of simply staying put.  At some point we have to move on. 

     When the trails on the front cover were swamped by damaging waves from a fall storm, the simplest thing would have been to give up on getting to the shoreline and seeing the birds that were there.  I could have waded through the knee high water easily enough, but I threaded my way around and eventually reached a few of the higher spots.

     When we are journeying with Jesus, he typically shows us a way around the obstacles that confront us.  “He leads us in right paths” as Psalm 23 tells us (paraphrased).  We can trust Jesus to get us where Jesus leads and sends us. 

Day 29: Monday

Mark 6:45-56

     

Jesus, we are not quick learners.  We often fail to understand your capacity to generate abundance.  We often fail to perceive how You are sovereign in the circumstances of our lives. 

We tend to become fearful in many situations, especially those that we find difficult to comprehend.  When we are fearful, and confused, we often fail to see your presence and your action among us and become more afraid.

We fear that we will lose our grip on the things that provide our security.  We fear that You are just an expression of overblown imaginations that has no bearing on our real lives.  We fear that You will lead us into greater dangers than the ones You have already overcome.  We fear that You will make demands that are beyond our ability and that we find unappealing. 

We fear that, in the end, our faith will fall flat and we will prove to be unworthy of the time You have spent with us, your careful instruction, and your many gifts.  

Do not give up on us!  Keep leading.  Keep teaching.  Keep showing us your ability to provide and to heal.  Open our eyes.  Calm our fears.  Soften our hearts that we may walk with You in confidence.  Amen.