This day Lord we remember and commit to your care all those who fought over the generations to save our world from tyranny and anarchy, and for those, both military and civilian, who are in the struggle still to preserve our democracy. John Dewey said that democracy needed to be reborn in every generation, and we confess Lord that we have been poor midwives. Help us recover and recommit to liberty and justice for all. Help us Lord extend your love and forgiveness to each other, and to move forward with care, particularly for the least among us. Amen
Posts Tagged ‘Prayer’
Memorial Day 2021
May 31, 2021Seeing
May 16, 2021Widen our lens O Lord, well beyond the narrow aperture of our phones.
Help us to lift our heads and see the beauty and the wonder of the world around us, and know that you are with us, that we are not alone nor in charge.
Help us to see your love and and forgiveness in the people around us, so that we too might respond with compassion and mercy.
Help us to see the many revelations of your grace that surround us, inviting us to move beyond our resentful and quarrelsome ways.
Open our eyes Lord to the possibilities of our future were we to work together.
Amen
God Is Our Refuge
May 10, 2021Today’s prayer borrows from Psalm 46.
God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, even as the very foundations of our democracy come under attack, and the political norms that gird our Constitution are threatened in the swelling waves of extreme partisanship and disinformation.
We will not fear for we know that God is with us, and the truth will someday set us free to pursue His paths of justice and peace.
Amen
Caring For Our Kids
May 2, 2021Bless our children Lord.
When we were expecting, the doctor told us, “a child is God’s way of saying the world must go on.”
Help us change Lord, for their sake.
Protect them from a legacy of fear, hate, and resentment.
Instead let them know joy, peace, and opportunity.
Help them love and be loved by their fellow citizens.
Give us all hope.
Help us change Lord, that our children might more fully live.
Amen
Preserving Our Democracy
April 25, 2021When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? Ps. 11:3.
Lord please give us the wisdom to see the damage being done to our democracy by those who would mislead, deflect, disrupt for the sake of disruption and power, and deny the humanity of others.
Give us the courage to learn, witness, to speak up and out, to protect the right of all to vote and be heard.
Help us to connect to our fellow citizens and commit to their well-being.
Lord, help us renew and nurture our country’s ideal of liberty and justice for all.
And as we engage, defend, and rebuild may we trust in your mercy and justice, and follow your paths, committing our efforts to your wisdom and guidance. (Pr. 3:5-6; 16:3)
Help us Lord to resist tyranny in all of its forms.
Amen
Bearing Fruit
April 18, 2021Galatians 5:22-26
Help us Lord bear the fruit of your Spirit,
love and joy,
free us from our hate and fear;
peace,
heal our anger and resentment;
patience, kindness, and goodness,
may we see and nurture the goodness embedded in all your children;
faithfulness,
let your command to love our neighbor as ourselves guide our way;
gentleness,
may we forgive ourselves and others as we move forward;
self-control,
may we think harder, choose our words more carefully, listen well, and act wisely.
Help us bear fruit O Lord.
Amen
Wisdom of the Lord
April 11, 2021Today’s prayer is adapted from Psalm 15.
Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?
He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart
and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman,
who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his word even when it hurts,
he does not take unfair advantage of those in need, and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things will never be shaken.
Lord help us to find hope in your word, and to choose leaders who follow your path of humility, wisdom and peace.
Amen
Our Redeemer Lives
April 4, 2021Alleluia! Our Redeemer lives.
In us and through us.
He is our
living hope,
saving help,
refuge in times of trouble,
our guide towards grace.
Free us O Lord from the sins of greed and self-regard.
Fill our hearts with compassion.
Guide us that we too might live, caring for and serving others.
Amen
Palm Sunday 2021
March 28, 2021Today’s prayer is adapted from Ps. 5:4-12; See also Luke 19:41-44
Forgive us Lord when we fail to see the path to peace and follow those who lead with false promises.
Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their hearts are filled with destruction.
And we follow at our peril for you are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell.
The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.
You destroy all who tell lies.
Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, because they falsely claim your name.
Shield us Lord, and retrieve those who have gone astray. Lead us in your better way that we may avoid the fate of Jerusalem.
Amen
Hope
March 21, 2021Thank you Lord for vaccines and sunny days; the sounds of children playing, a casual encounter with friends, flowers pushing up through the earth, a good meal.
For all these things that give us hope.
Don’t let the gun shots, the hurt that fills our hearts, the hate that spews through our media, or the uncertainty that surrounds us, take that hope away.
Help us to focus on the many signs of your presence in our world, and reach out to others in love and compassion.
Lead us forward O Lord.
Amen
Prayers For Our Country 