Archive for April, 2009

Pursuing Peace

April 26, 2009

Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Ps. 34:14

Lord, help us create more peace in our world — peace abroad, peace in our country, peace in our cities, peace in our families, peace within.

Help us to focus less on our individual rights and desires and more on our responsibilities to each other.

Help us to understand the complex systems that shape our lives, so that we might fight injustice at its roots, and not just fight over its effects.

Help us to be open to the pain and suffering around us, so that we might seek the common good as we move into the future.

Help us to forgive ourselves and others for both what was done and left undone in the past, while keeping in mind that those who do not remember or who refuse to consider the past are condemned to repeat it.

Help us to recognize and be grateful for the many gifts you have given, and to see the reflection of your image in those around us.

Help us to sort through the waves of information, emotion, and demands that sap our time and energy, so that we might focus on the path you would have us follow.

Help us to trust in you, and respond, when we hear your call to love others as you have loved us. (John 15:20)

Help us to find within ourselves, and share, the gift of peace you have given. (John 14:27).

In Jesus’ name we pray.

Amen

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Resurrection and Redemption

April 19, 2009

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Ph.3:10-11

This week’s prayer borrows from the contemporary collects for Easter week in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty God, who gave your only Son to die for our sins and to rise for our justification:

Open the eyes of our faith that we may behold him in all his redeeming work;

Grant that we may show forth in our lives what we profess in our faith;

Give us grace so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; and

Recall us to life, that your light may shine in us, and through us.

We pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen

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The Day of Resurrection

April 12, 2009

“. . .  just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Romans 6:4

Lord, as we celebrate your resurrection, help us to live a new life.

Resurrect in us a spirit of thrift, that we may be better stewards of the resources you have entrusted to us;

Resurrect in us a spirit of service, that we may share your love with others;

Resurrect in us a spirit of compassion, so that as we make spending decisions, we work to care for those whose suffering is great;

Resurrect in us a spirit of forgiveness and respect for others so that by listening to each other we might better discern your will;

Resurrect in us a spirit of responsibility, so that we might live lives worthy of the calling we have received;

Resurrect in us a respect for the rule of law and the institutions of government that were designed by our founders to preserve domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to us and all our posterity; and

Resurrect in us a spirit of hope, the hope that we might still become one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Amen.

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Trusting In God

April 4, 2009

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Lord, forgive us our desire to control our future, and help us to put our trust in you.  Help us to put aside hurt, anger and fear, and accept your love and discipline (Pr. 3:12).  Help us move beyond past choices and mistakes and move forward, supported by your forgiveness.  Help us to help one another.   And as we struggle to find the way forward, both individually and collectively, help us to pray as our Savior taught us: “yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42).  Be our strength and shield, and guide us O Lord.

Amen

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