Posts Tagged ‘anger’

Turning Point

January 24, 2021

Thank you Lord for our democracy holding and a peaceful transfer of power.

Help us to recommit to democratic values,* repair our foundations, and rebuild.

Turn us from the sins of anger, hate, factionalism, and resentment. (Galatians 5:20)

Lead us in your paths of justice, kindness, and mercy. (2 Chronicles 7:14; Ps. 25:4-5; Galatians 22-23)

May we, in the words of our Vice President,** emerge from our trials with new wisdom, imagining new possibilities. Help us to open our hearts to one another.

May we, with your help, be so zealous and successful at pursuing your justice and peace that we, like Hezekiah and his people, find ourselves rejoicing at the speed of our progress. (2 Chronicles 29:36).

Amen

*As identified in the National Council For The Social Studies C3 Framework: honesty, mutual respect, cooperation, attention to multiple perspectives, equality, liberty, and freedom.

**Paraphrased from Vice President Kamala Harris’ remarks at the Covid-19 Memorial Service, January 19, 2021.

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A Different Harvest

January 10, 2021

You reap what you sow. (Gal. 6:7-10)

Forgive us Lord, for planting and nurturing the seeds of hate, anger and resentment.

Forgive us for our willingness to dismiss and even mock our fellow citizens.

Forgive us for pursuing the folly and comfort of easy answers.

Forgive us for following false prophets.

Help us heal the wounds and scars on our land and among our people.

Help us to plant anew, and to pull the weeds that infect our current discourse.

Guide us to a future harvest of justice and wisdom, of love and compassion.

Amen.

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Following The Light

December 27, 2020

Light of the world, shine in our hearts, that we might see and act with compassion.

Shine in our minds that we might love justice, and act wisely.

Dispel our fears, our anger, our resentments, our sorrows and despair.

Shine on our hands that we might reach out in love.

Shine on our feet that we might find the path of peace.

Guide us O Lord through the new year.

Amen

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A Better Way

October 11, 2020

“Show us your ways O Lord . . . “ (Ps. 25 v. 4-5)

You have shown us a better way Lord. A way of

  • compassion,
  • love,
  • mercy,
  • forgiveness,
  • generosity,
  • patience,
  • kindness, and
  • self-control.

And you have shown us the way we should not go. A way of

  • factions,
  • hate,
  • oppression,
  • anger,
  • fear,
  • self-absorption,
  • death, and
  • destruction.

Forgive our missteps and misdirection, and guide us into the better way.

Amen

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Increasing Love

March 2, 2017

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  2 Peter 1:5-8

O Lord, guide our leaders — and us as citizens — that we may pursue goodness, knowledge, self-control, godliness, and kindness in our political lives and in our communities.   Help us reach out to our neighbors, breaking down the walls of “us” and “them”.  Calm our anger and fears. Steer us from factions and petty disputes. Teach us to love. Help us live by your Spirit and find peace and prosperity together.  (Galatians 5:19-26).

Amen

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Lead Us Forward

May 28, 2012

This Pentecost, O Lord, we celebrate that you are with us, and in us, and that you will never leave us.  Help us to hear and to heed your voice within.  Guide us and challenge us until we are, both in our public and private lives,

“Free from anger, hatred and passion; free from ill will, jealousy and envy; free from transgression, criticism and gossip; free from malice, animosity and grudges. . .”*

As we listen to the news and listen to the candidates, as we sift through what we hear, and as we  make choices, help us to value civility, community, and thoughtfulness.  Help us to test our fears against facts, and be willing to change. Guide us, O Lord, and move us forward.

Amen

*Quote from Julian Ibarra Zapata, 20th Century Disciples pastor  Juarez, Mexico.

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Truth and Courage

October 17, 2010

“I am a firm believer in people.  If given truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts. ”  Abraham Lincoln

Lord, we can be a hardheaded, stiff-necked people, resistant to your word. (Ex. 32:9, Heb. 3:8)

We are often a fearful people, easily swayed by those who would manipulate and divide.

We can be a selfish people, obsessed with material comfort.

We are often an angry people, more willing to blame others than to accept our own accountability in creating a world where so many suffer.

Help us O Lord. Give us the courage to face real facts and look for long term solutions.

Give us the compassion to share our material wealth with those who have little or none.

Teach us to forgive, and to look at the plank in our own eye before pointing out the splinter in others. (Lk. 6:42)

Help us to listen, with open hearts and minds, to the cries of those around us.

Help us to be worthy of the trust and hopes of those who came before us.

Lead us forward O Lord.

Amen.

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