Tag Archives: prayer

Prayer for the Third Monday in Advent

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Stop being afraid. The Lord favors you.
Me, Lord? How can I possibly magnify you? 
How can I make you any bigger than you are?
Nothing is impossible with God.
Well, I wish you’d get to it, Lord. Bring down the mighty and fill the hungry with good things, and fulfill your promise of peace among the nations.

O Leader of the House of Israel,
giver of the Law to Moses on Sinai:
come to rescue us with your mighty power!

And while you’re at it …
comfort those who mourn, 
be present to the lonely,
heal the sick,
provide for the poor,
show mercy, Lord.
Why do you think I have come to you, favored one?
Stop being afraid. You get to it.
Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word. Amen.

Prayer for the Second Monday in Advent

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Holy and Immediate God,
urgently calling us out of ourselves
to turn around and see you,
help us see the urgency of your coming.
In this bleak midwinter – or midsummer –
let ‘the beginning of the Good News’ grow in us.
Guide us as we answer John the Baptizer’s call to
prepare the way of the Lord
in our own hearts,
in our world,
in your will.

Amen.

snow-covered trees

Prayer for the First Monday in Advent

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December 4, 2023

Your advent is upon us, Lord. 
In the fullness of time, you said, you would come to us.
And here you are,
In one whose hope has worn thin,
In one whose “To Do” list never gets done,
In one who doubts but still trusts,
And in one who believes but still wonders.
In the Bread and in the Cup,
Here you are, just as you said you would be:
God with us, in the fullness of time.
Holy One, as you come toward us, may we come toward you.
May your advent be ours, too.
In the fullness of your time,
May our times be in your hands,
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Saturday Prayer 09.30.2023

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There’s a lot on our minds these days, Holy One.
It boils up, spills over.
We want everyone to mind –
mind their own business,
mind their Ps and Qs,
mind their manners.
To be in their “right” mind.
Those aren’t bad things to care about; each has its time and place.
But they aren’t the only ones; not always the most important.
Forgive us for minding way too much about some things, and not nearly enough about others. Remind us of another way to mind.
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,” Paul wrote. That mind. Let the mind of Christ be in us, we pray. Amen.

photo of three pairs of hands reaching into an empty wooden bowl

Saturday Prayer 8.19.2023

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Confession

Lord, I cringe when someone says,
“You must be so proud ____!”
Am I proud? I thought I was being grateful. I didn’t think I was bragging, but that’s how it came across.

Once more, you remind me how I often assume privilege I didn’t earn.
You remind me how my life of privilege makes others’ lives harder –
not because they have to work harder
or be smarter
or do more
to get the same recognition I get,
but because
when I blithely go about my business without a care in the world,
I’m creating a world that doesn’t care.
And that is not what you call me to do.

You call me to care.
Not from a position of privilege, nor even from solidarity,
but from under the table,
where all of us are hungry
for just a crumb of grace.

Have mercy, Lord. Have mercy. Amen.

picture of two loons floating on a lake

Saturday Prayer 8.12.2023

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Lord,
Sometimes, when the waves are pushing against the boat,
I get distracted by the wind,
and am surprised by the loon calling out.

“Look up!” the loon cries,
as the eagle swoops down, skims the water,
and flies up again, something caught in its talons.

The waves push against the boat,
and my doubt pushes against my faith.
Look up!
“If it’s you, Lord, command me to come to you.”
If?
“Come”, you say. “You have faith enough. It only takes a mustard seed’s worth to move a mountain, after all.”

Lord, save me. Amen.

A Prayer for the Eve of Trinity Sunday

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Holy One in Three
and Three in One,
Let me dance with you.

I may not understand
how you can be three distinct persons living in unity,
how you can sing in unison and harmony at the same time,
But I do not need to understand in order to trust your Presence.

I need not Know in order to Love as you love,
as you open the circle to me
and invite me into your dance,
into your grace,
into your wholeness and holiness,
into your love.

Let it be so. Let me dance with you. Amen.

A Liturgy for Extinguishing Lenten Candles

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Many Christian churches use an Advent wreath to mark the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Each week, another candle is lit, and some Advent wreaths include a fifth candle in the center, lighting the “Christ Candle” on Christmas Eve.

I grew up in a non-liturgical church. We didn’t celebrate the seasons of the church year – at least not the way our mainline sisters and brothers did. Sure, we had Easter and Christmas, but Lent and Advent? Pentecost? Ordinary time? I had no clue.

Coming into a congregation that observed these sacred seasons shifted my perspective. I grew to love the rhythm of the church year: the waiting, the working, the worship. So when, a few years ago, someone asked if we could do a “reverse Advent wreath” for Lent, I took it as an invitation.

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A Prayer for Christmas Day 2022

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O Holy Mystery,
infinite, almighty, encompassing the universe,
you came to us as human infant,
God made flesh, glory tucked between your tiny toes;
Love latching onto life –
vulnerable and helpless,
and yet our only help.


Now, in the quiet aftermath of all our frantic striving
to celebrate your birth with our best,
the very best of our best,
we kneel before you,
exhausted,
spent.


Whether we were ready or not, you came.
Whether we are ready or not, 
come once again, Lord Jesus.
Latch onto our lives. 
Fill us with the mystery of your love, 
God made flesh.

Amen.

snow-covered trees

Monday Prayer

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12/19/2022

We’re coming down to the wire, God. This is the point in Advent where, if I haven’t done it by now, it isn’t going to happen. Those dreams I had of creating the perfect Christmas for my family, my church, myself …. they were lovely, weren’t they, Lord? 

But maybe they weren’t the dream you’ve been dreaming all along. 

Like the dream you gave Joseph. 

Your dream disrupted Joseph’s dreams of the perfect marriage, the perfect family, the perfect life …

Yet Joseph didn’t argue with you (the way I would).

As far as we know, Joseph stayed silent (the way I would not).

Joseph simply obeyed. Mary may have said, “Let it be with me according to your word,” but Joseph quietly acted, even if he didn’t completely understand what you were about to do. 

And you chose Joseph, of all the possible people in Nazareth, to be the one who would teach Jesus how to be human.

So, Lord, help us to discern your dreams for us, and make us willing to obey you, just as Joseph did.

Give us courage to abandon our old dreams, dreams that focus on what we want for ourselves, instead of what you want for us. For we know that what you want for us is far greater than anything we can imagine.

Help us to embrace the new dreams you put into our hearts and minds, dreams for peace, for justice, for lifting up the lowly and filling the hungry with good things, dreams for sharing the good news that You are with us, Emmanuel, and you will save us from our sins when we turn to you.

And then, Lord, teach us how to be human, too. Just as Joseph taught Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. Amen.