Prayers for a Year of Sundays

By Willard Spencer

Friends, you will find five prayers for each month, giving some flexibility.  Use these prayers, adapt them, pray them.  May they be little windows letting in some of God's light.  

Click on the month listed below for prayers chosen for that time of year.  You will find that the church year is well represented in the choices, e.g. look for Easter in April.  There is a category of "other days" that includes more prayers for, e.g. Epiphany, All Saints, etc.  

Dear Lord Jesus, At the beginning of a new year we give you thanks for all the blessings we enjoy, among which are: clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, a warm place to stay, good food to eat, the blessing of communication with others we love – phones and e-mail and a host of other things that may be used to your glory. We thank you for family and friends, those who stand by us, correct us, listen to us, cheer us, protect us, push us to be our best, defend us, and still love us… and vice-versa. We are blessed beyond our powers to thank you, but not beyond living out our gratitude. Help us to be grateful in our life here on this planet, for life is brief, a tale quickly told. Life flies like a weaver’s shuttle, a moment and it is gone. Help us at the beginning of this year to begin again a life of gratitude. May we be overwhelmed with gratitude so that we may not be overwhelmed with hatred or despair. Call us to count our blessings, to remember our heritage, to smile and laugh and reach out to others. Help us to take up your cross for others, for your children who suffer because of your name, the persecuted of the earth, the Christians enslaved around the world. So keep us focused in our gratitude, Dear Lord Jesus, on your gospel and your kingdom. And, again, we will be grateful.

Be near to those who need you today. Be close to those whose homes are threatened. Touch those whose lives have taken a radical turn. Free those who are caught by alcohol and drug dependencies. Ease the pains of those sick this day. Be near the saints who prepare for their journey home. Bless our church in this year and help us to open our doors, open our heart to others who need you as much as we do. Hear our words spoken in sound or silence, and hear these words we offer to you….. Pray the Lord’s Prayer. 01 07 01

Dear Lord Jesus, we remember with a great joy the revelation of yourself to all peoples that happened when the wise men from the east came to worship you and offer their gifts. From that moment on time was different. It was not just ordinary, waiting for something to happen time. Now we live in your time. The moments are not just hollow motions of waves and particles, not just meaningless movement of animals with some memory capacity. We live in your time and so time is different. You have come in person to show us that life is a gift, that love is the motive, that forgiveness is your continuing strategy. You are reshaping the world into your new creation, and us into new beings, fit to be your servants. The old time is over. We cannot return to the old days, the old ways. We find that things are infinitely different now -- because you have come. So in this season of ice and cold, warm our hearts by the outpouring of your love. Reveal yourself in scripture and prayer, in witness and invitation, in laughter and music. In the smile of the thirsty child who has been given a big glass of milk to drink, in the sadness of parting, in the struggle to find ourselves in the middle of this whirling dervish culture -- and in any way of your choosing reveal yourself to us. "Show us the Father!" Let us see God in your face -- in your tears -- in your smiles. Dear Lord Jesus, we are seeking you, waiting for a renewed vision of your truth and reality in our lives.

Be with those whose lives are in great danger. Be with those whose lives are ending in this world. Be with the children, with writers, with lawyers and bus drivers. Be with artists and business people. Be with all of us on our journey between the hither and farther shore. Hear every prayer, listen to every sigh, and touch every heart as we bow before you and say your holy words…..Pray the Lord's Prayer. 1/9/2000

Dear Lord Jesus, another week of our earthly lives has just gone by. During that week we have done some good things. We have missed doing some of the things we should have done. We have thought noble thoughts and some thoughts less than noble. We have fussed and complained, griped and grumbled. We have prayed and praised. We have given compliments and supported others. In short, we have been amiable and surly this week just past. What can we say? We are what we are? Help us to be increasingly what we should be. Shape our lives in this earth time you have given us. Lead us toward perfection. Help us lean toward the light. Fit us for your everlasting time, soon to be upon all of us.

Dear Lord Jesus, we remember all those who have suffered during this week past: some have died untimely deaths, some have been burned in fires or injured in accidents, some have fallen and broken bones, some have been abused by those who are kin to them, some fight battles against infernal illness. We remember before your throne all those who have suffered this week. We thank you for the great joys you have given us: moonlight on snow, frost flowers on windows, laughter of grandchildren, the smile of a loved one. For music and friendship, for the barely perceptible lengthening of the days we give you thanks. For your love continued to each of us, we offer praise and thanksgiving. For the nudging of your Spirit, for the certainty of your gracious life and atoning death, we bless your name.

Dear Lord Jesus, touch each of us as we bow before you at the beginning of a new week. Stay with us and bring us each day a little closer to you, to home. We ask in the power of your name, and we lift our hearts and voices toward you in the strong words you taught us to pray….Pray the Lord's Prayer.  01/23/2000

Dear Lord Jesus, we know that you have already come to this your world. We know that you have given us the seven-fold spirit to breathe new life into our spirits. We know that you are to return on a day and at an hour unknown to us. You will return. Eagerly we look for you each day, each sunrise. Come quickly, Dear Lord Jesus.

We confess that some of us looked for your return at the turn of this year. Whether or not it was the true millennium we identified the time as an occasion for readiness. We watched for and longed for your return at the turn of this year. So we were more eager for that great moment then than we are now; although we know that we should be prepared always, always watching, always eager for your return.

We also confess that we were distracted from the only reason to celebrate the new thousand years -- the anniversary of your birth. We should have been filled with hope and exhilaration at the celebration of two thousand years of your life given for this earth, for each person, for all of us together. But we were distracted by the false doctrines of some secular media. We followed them eagerly. We reacted to them with a readiness for an emptiness. Like most of the illusions of this world, once revealed, they are found hollow, without substance. We were distracted so much by y2k that we forgot your two thousandth anniversary. Help us, Dear Lord Jesus, to catch the grace and glory of your risen and ascended power. Help us to live in your everlasting day, through the years, not forgetting that you are Savior and Lord of the entire human running race. Give us a season of jubilee and joy. Grant us to sing your praises to a new century, a new millennium. And save us from being distracted from our hearts true vocation by the mirages of this fleeting world. Be with us and with all who suffer, all who rejoice. In your wonderful name, Lord Jesus, we offer these sacred words… Pray the Lord's Prayer.  1/30/2000

Dear Lord Jesus, We live in a time and place that multiplies needs. We need something new every time we turn around. It seems that we are driven by ever-increasing demands and plagued by ever diminishing pleasures. We need more this and new that. We expand our store of needs until it overflows the "barns" we build. And not everything new is bad, Dear Lord Jesus, it is just "more." Help us in this deluge of novelty not to lose sight of the essential things, the quiddity of truth, the sufficiency of grace, the abundance of mercy and love. Fix in our hearts, Dear Lord Jesus, the image of your sacrifice, your endless care for us. Translate our images of grace into action for you in this time and place, surfeited with novelty and fluff. Let us keep hold of the needful thing and not starve in the midst of plenty, perish on food that does not satisfy.

Find us here in our seeking. Find us poor and lost, blind and lame…and let your light shine in our eyes, in our souls, and bring to us what we really need. Bring hope that does not fade. Bring joy that triumphs over despair. Bring challenge to face real needs in your way. Show us the mission field right outside of our door and send us into it caring for the lost and the lame. Give us voices to speak for you. Give us eyes to see those who need to hear and give us a will, a courage, a readiness to tell the good news of your grace.

Be help to the helpless, Dear Lord Jesus. Be hope to those who have almost given up. Be our light in every darkness, and stir within us the fire of faith. Re-kindle the flames first found in solemn vows taken before your altar. To you be praise and glory always. We praise you this day with words you gave us….. Pray the Lord's Prayer.

01 21 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, None of us would choose a storm. We would choose, rather, a quiet time of peace, surrounded by a peaceful environment, in the midst of people we love. Or we would choose a sunlit day in the hills, the light laughing on little rivers, butterflies circling, and wildflowers bowing in the gentle breeze. Maybe a time of reading in a quiet place or a warm fire and a cup of hot chocolate. We would choose such, Dear Lord Jesus, before we would choose a storm. There are times, though, when we walk into a storm knowingly, walking with you, sensing your presence near, leading and guarding. And then there are times when we just find ourselves caught by a storm, without any forethought or preparation for a tempest. Those are the ones we dread. We feel the palpable darkness. We cannot see the path to take a step. We look around for you and do not see you. We cry out and are answered by the echoes of our own fears. Those are the storms we dread most of all.

Dear Lord Jesus, show us again the ancient truths, speak again the words of truth -- that you love us with an everlasting love and that you will never let us go. Drive again into the subconscious sources of dread and angst the truth that you will be WITH us until the close of the age. Secure us in that certainty, and give us eyes to see you walking toward us in the storm.

Save your people. Satisfy every pure hunger. Assuage every grief and loss. Dear Lord Jesus, strengthen us for your mission field just outside, and bring us again into the lambent circle of safety that is your grace. We ask in your name, and offer your prayer….

02 04 01

Dear Lord Jesus, you are the everlasting One, the One whose love is constant, whose life is stable, without fear; in your light there is no shadow. We praise your holy name and honor you for who you are. 

You know that it is different for us. We live with shadows obscuring our light, with tremors of uncertainty shaking our settled lives, plunging us into flight and fear. Change catches us up in a vortex of new "givens" and new "realities." Life looks us in the face and says: "You have to change again." So our days are often filled with worry, and the pressing question often is, "What's coming next?"

So, today, Dear Lord Jesus, we ask you to help us. In the sweet silence before your throne we ask that you say again those words we need to hear: that you have called us by name, we are yours; that you love us with an everlasting love and you will never forsake us. Make real those great truths in the lives of those who wait before you. Put to flight the shadows of fear, as the morning sunlight chases away every shade of night. Renew our certainty of your continual presence, your healing love and care. We long for your face this day. We ask for your spirit wind to lift us from doubt to a daring faith.

Be with all who suffer. Dear Lord Jesus, be with all who mourn, who wake or watch or weep. Love all of us, mournful or joy filled, until we are remade in your image, renewed in your service.  Strengthen your church here and around the world. We join our voices with the saints of all ages and every nation in the words that fill our hearts with hope unfading…..Pray the Lord's Prayer.

02062000

Dear Lord Jesus, Spread the wings of your spirit over us this day. Keep us safe within the shelter of your wings. The tides of time, restless, unceasing, pass over us. The days and the years hasten on to distant, unseen shores. We feel in our souls the strong flow of the moments, moving irrevocably on toward some unknown future. So cover us, Dear Lord Jesus, in this midst of this frustrating, wonderful, fear-filled, rapturous journey. Cover us with the peace and holiness that emanate from your throne. Save us from the evil day, and everyday, and bring us to everlasting joy. Find us in this hour and reaffirm your love for each of us. Lift us up from depths, despair, from the slough of despond. Securely cover us, Dear Lord Jesus. May we rest quietly in the shadow of your wings?

Dear Lord Jesus, save us from spiritual blindness. Save us from spiritual cataracts that dim our vision of your world. We have trouble seeing:

v The poor in our midst

v The crippled in spirit all around

v The vision impaired who need to see a glimpse of your mercy

v The youth struggling for independence and for integrity

v The Elderly with much to offer

v The great possibilities open to your church

We suffer from spiritual cataracts, Dear Lord Jesus. Clear our sight with your spiritual procedure, a laser of the spirit, so that we may see clearly once more. Find us by the wayside today.

Dear Lord Jesus, keep close to the suffering, the despairing, the poor, the lame, the blind, and keep us with you, we ask in your name and answer with your prayer…. 02 11 01

Dear Lord Jesus, You are the first and the last, the everlasting One. You stand in the midst of the golden candlesticks and hold the stars in your right hand. You are the Lion and the Lamb, our strength and our salvation. You are the fount of mercies and the source of unending joy. We rejoice in your holy name and offer all our praise to you this Sabbath day.

We confess that we are more interested in happiness than in service. We like things to go on evenly, smoothly. We enjoy a steady routine of days, without much pain, with a modicum of joy. We enjoy little adventures and slight risks. Dear Lord Jesus, we are like Eliot's hobbit, we think most of our comfortable fireside and warm bed. We pray for these things daily. They are not bad things, and we rejoice when they come to us regularly.

Help us this day, Dear Lord Jesus, to be aware of the times when you call us out of ourselves and into a special place of service to you. When we are being true to your call we are most truly ourselves. O help us not miss the times and places for commitment to your church, for caring for the afflicted, for feeding the hungry, and for doing battle with the principalities and powers of this fleeting world. Sound your clear, certain trumpet. Let us hear the call and respond in faith, following you always.

Be near to those who suffer pain and loneliness today. Be close to those who are tired and despair of the burden of their days. Bless the newborn in body, the newborn in spirit. Surround them with your holy laughter and joy.

Strengthen all of us, Dear Lord Jesus, as we lean into your Holy Wind, lean toward your emerald throne with hearts and voices united in your prayer….

2/13/2000

Dear Lord Jesus, Thank you for all your mercies, sweet and severe, for your hand is in all things. We do not believe that you will any suffering to any of your creatures, yet suffering is our lot here on Earth, and we cannot believe that anything occurs beyond your will. So we try to count all things yours and learn from our sufferings, seeking to bring good from ill, light in the darkness. Help us meet good days and bad days with an equanimity that is born of faith, sustained by trust in your goodness, and nurtured by listening to your Word. Help us to live each day for you, toward you, within your will.

Be with those who suffer this day. Be with those who have suffered from the dread catastrophes of earthquake and fire. Be with those who are victims of violence. Be with nations and peoples locked in endless cycles of pain and political wrangling. Be close to your children this day – young and old. Be with those who have undergone surgery and with those who are now forced to face again the possibility of surgery. Be with those who suffer from cancer, the scourge of our day. Touch the lives of the young – fill them with the desire to carry your good news to every corner of the world.

Bless our land as we lean toward the light lengthening days of spring. We long for the first crocus, the first hyacinth, the jonquil and the daffodil, the red bud and the tulip magnolia. The days hasten on in the ritual of recovery, the warmth calling to life the dormant seeds deep planted in the ground. Bless us this day, Lord, may all we say or do be done for your glory. In the sweet name of the savior, you, Dear Lord Jesus, we bring our prayers and offer the prayer you taught us…. 02 18 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, sometimes the days seem to fly by with smoothness and delight. On those days the sunlight dances through the trees, bare limbs waving in the rhythm of the flowing wind. On those days the light laughs on the rippled surface of rivers and streams, of lakes and ponds, joining the dance of all the worlds before your throne. Some days are glad and golden, Dear Lord Jesus, even in the shank end of the winter.

There are other days. You know that we journey through days of shadows, of fear, of pain, shadows of grief and sorrow. We must pass through days (Why are they always so long?) of disappointment and anger. Something or someone is always invading the peace of the created order with strife and pain. 

Dear Lord Jesus, help us when we are impatient in the shadow time, when we cause shadows in the lives of others, when our hunger for the light is so very great that we are tempted to mistake the darkness for light. Help us. Lead us again toward your rainbow throne, toward the emerald sky, toward the true colors of our faith. Lead us again to the place where we can hear the angels sing their praises, where we can see through eyes of faith the elders casting their crowns before you. Take us to the place where all the creatures of all the worlds fall down and worship you, to the place where our lives may be refocused on the true center, even you, Dear Lord Jesus.

Be especially close to those whose journey is difficult today. Be close to the weak and the weary, the feeble hands, the wobbly knees. Be strength to their hearts and spirits today. Be with those who suffer violence. Touch and heal. Touch and renew. Touch all of us as we wait before you this day. Dear Lord Jesus, may we feel your presence working miracles in our lives as we sing your song and pray your light-filled prayer…Pray the Lord's Prayer.

022700

Dear Lord Jesus, We thank you for bringing us again to these wilderness days of Lent. We look around us and see the dry ground, the broken shale, the crushed rock. We feel the unrelenting heat of the fierce sun, the biting sting of the Sirocco wind. We stand amid thirst and desolation of lives lived in the deserts of self seeking and greed, of acquiescing to pagan values. We thirst for healing of spirit. We long to quench our thirst in your living waters, in the oasis of your grace. We reach out for a cooling touch, just a drop of water from your cup. But here we are, still in the wilderness, still on the journey.

v Give us patience in the midst of trials.

v Give us perseverance when we falter.

v Give us hope that does not flee.

v Give us courage to face the foe.

v Give us peace in the midst of strife.

Give us yourself, your presence, Dear Lord Jesus, to be with us in the wilderness; bring forth pools of living water, let the desert rejoice and blossom, let it rejoice greatly and shout for joy. Find us in the journey from here to forever. Rejoice our spirits with your grace, with your forgiveness, with your power. Confirm within us your command to love you with heart and soul, and our neighbors as ourselves. Help us to rebuild the walls, not losing a stone. We ask in your strong name, Dear Lord Jesus, and we rejoice to say the words you taught us...Pray the Lord's Prayer.

03 04 01

Dear Lord Jesus, it has been some week. The earth tilts toward the sun and the little eyes of spring, the daffodils, open their lids, heavy with winter sleep, to see again the sunshine. The raindrops cleanse the limbs of the trees, and the face of the earth, in expectation of a new birth of leaf and grass. In the country the winter wheat turns green and begins to reach for the open sky. Along the roadside wild flowers proclaim their statement of faith that they will bloom even in ditches. And in the neighborhoods hardy pansies bloom -- even in late winter. We lean toward the equinox, Dear Lord Jesus. We welcome it as your gift to the world.

So the week is filled with pleasures and pressures. We fight the good fight each day, early in the morning, braving the long streams of tireless traffic, endless lights stretching from somewhere to somewhere, reflecting our dreams and our daily burdens. We get up and get ready. We face each day. We carry the loads. Give us, Dear Lord Jesus, something in which to rejoice each day. Let us see your face in the sunrise, in the smile, in the service given or received. Let us, each day, lean toward your equinox, your warmth and your light.

Dear Lord Jesus, be with those whose light is low this day, lessened by pain or grief, by loss or fear or despair. Surround us in this daily journey with the certainty of your presence, your power to bring us safely through. Be with the children, the students, the teachers, the police officers, and the workers on assembly lines. Be with all your children everywhere. We thank you for your certain love in a changing, fleeting world. We give you blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever! And we offer these words you have given us to guide us each day…. (Pray the Lord's Prayer.)

O30300, a prayer for the equinox and life

Dear Lord Jesus, it is hard to talk of difficulties when the land is filled with life and beauty. We have experienced an early spring -- feeling the warming sun on our faces, smiling into the sunrise over a cloudless sky. We have been lifted up by the surfeit of color that attends this season: the yellows of daffodil and forsythia and pansy, the deep purples of the crocus and hyacinth. We see green grass and leafing trees, and we know for certain that in the hills, in the deep woods the ancient ferns have already waved their branches in the early dawn, as if greeting You, their Creator and Lord. It is hard to be pessimistic in an optimistic season.

But we have also felt suffering and pain flow over us, like fierce waves of a stormy sea. We see young people killing young people. We see people hungry on the streets. We see your children whose lives have been inundated with flood waters. We have to breathe deeply and call upon your name. How else can we sustain our hope, our mission, unless we bring our cry to You? Hear our plea: that violence will come to an end; that peace will prevail, that suffering will be transcended by healing; that along with the earth, your people will be renewed in hope and commitment to the continued journey. May the wilderness cleanse us. May the desert of Lent prepare us for the peace of your everlasting kingdom.

Was that you calling me today, Dear Lord Jesus? I walked softly to the window and looked out. I saw two things that amazed me: that the tree outside my study window had leaves on it, and the beautiful Cardinal singing in its branches. I know that it was just a vision of spring, or was it you calling through your creation, telling me not to give up, not to grow weary of serving, not to lose heart? Let us all hear you calling again in this holy hour, on this sacred ground, finding strength in your call, and hope that bids us go forward into Your season of hope with revived spirits and certain conviction.

We lift these prayers and our lives before you this day, and solemnly utter the sacred words you taught us…..(Pray the Lord's Prayer.)

03/12/2000

Dear Lord Jesus, we see the wind in the trees, we feel the winds whipping around the corners, but we do not see from whence it comes or whence it goes. It's source and destination are beyond us. So it is with your Holy Wind, Sweet Lord, we do not see the source from this side of the river. We do not know for sure where the Spirit is going. Yes, Dear Lord Jesus, we know that the Spirit is from you, and so we rejoice in it, and we know that the final destiny is the end of all things, the beginning of life everlasting on that distant shore; but we do not know that day, our vision foreshortened by time and space and age and death. It is a mystery before which we can but ponder and praise. In that holy mystery we can and do rejoice.

We fear the wind, Dear Lord Jesus -- the violent storms of the spring, the whirlwind, the tornado. We fear your Spirit Wind as well. We fear not the mystery but the lack of control it presents to us. We find within us urges to control things. We want to control our minutes and hours, our wages and working conditions, our choices and our preferences. We like to control our lives, Dear Lord Jesus, and we don't want an unknown, uncontrollable factor taking charge of our lives. We know that your Spirit will lead us in right paths. We fear no evil. We fear giving up our right to control our directions, our destinies. We are proud, Lord, and we really fear that if we give up control we will fall off the edge of some unknown. We need a change of attitude. Such a change, Dear Lord Jesus, must be like a new birth, a new beginning, a re-doing of our life values and drives. Let your Holy Wind blow on us, through us, lifting, reassuring, re-birthing our spirits into a trust in you that will not be lost over years or miles. Lift us like kites on the wind until we no longer fear your holiness or your power.

Be with all who hurt this day. Be close to the dying. Touch the young, the old, all who need your special healing. And bring us at the last, beyond the final storms, to that safe haven where there are no more tears, no more death, and where the one wind blows true forever. We pray, Dear Lord Jesus, in the strong name, yours -- and we bring you these sacred words…Pray the Lord's Prayer.

03/19/2000

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Dear Lord Jesus, we press forward into a new month of the time we keep since your birth. Are there months in heaven? How do you measure an eternal day? Forgive us, I can almost hear your laughter, but we are still limited by time and space, still stretched out by the days and the years. To us everything seems to be moving somewhere toward some unknown future out there. When I think these thoughts out loud I am glad that you walked these roads, breathed this air, saw winter turn into spring in the Galilee. So you know how time wracked we are. I am also glad that you are forever, that your everlastingness transcends the limits of time and space. You know the fullness -- all the moments and days, all the fears and tears, the joys and rejoicings are all held in your everlasting present, Dear Lord Jesus. We must place our limited lives in your hands. We place our times in your hands. When we offer our moments to you it causes us to breathe deeper, it lifts us up on tiptoe to catch a glimpse of your glory. When we reach out to you it seems, for a moment, that we move beyond time. We breathe heaven's air; we stand in the sunlight of that endless day. Is it just our imagination or is it the vision that comes to faith? It is faith, I think, Dear Lord Jesus, for I probably would have imagined it much differently. In this holy stillness, this respite from the inexorable pull of the calendar, prepare us for the month ahead. Give us what we need for April. Enable us to do what you want in this month of yours. May we do your will. May we help your church. May we care for others as ourselves, and may we love you with heart and mind, with soul and strength -- in this month of the year 2000.

Bless all who need your touch this day: the poor, the hungry, the empty in spirit, the sick and the dying. Sustain and heighten the joys of everyday for all of us. We love you and rejoice in your presence, and in the words you taught us to say…. Pray the Lord's Prayer.04/02/00

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Dear Lord Jesus, we find it easy to rejoice when we are feeling good. When all is glad and golden we can smile easily and float through the day, like a canoe in a slow current on the river. We are glad to have those days, times when the sun overpowers the shadows, the noon times of life, when shadows retreat into diminished state, phantom silhouettes fleeing the radiant sunlight. We thank you for your strong presence on days of effortless joy.

We need your strong presence on other days as well -- on headache days, on drab, rainy days, and on exacting work days. We need you when things do not go right: when the car won't start, when the traffic is too heavy to move, when the pain starts again. I can't say that we need you more than on golden days, but we need a certain, clear touch, a real sense of your loving presence. Lift us beyond our times, above the circumstances that surround us. Show us the real world, timeless, pure, without stain or pain, without gloom or ghosts of what might have been. Let your light shine on us, giving us radiance enough to find the path, to take the step forward, to bring us home.

We thank you for your boundless love, not limited by time or space, by gladness or sorrow. We thank you for choosing us to be among your people. We thank you for equipping us for a mission and urging us to take up the cross and the hoe, the Word and the words of life sent to all peoples. Stay with us. Prod us into action. Fill us with hope unending and bring us again, rejoicing, to the portal, to the throne.

Be with all who live this day. Bless the strong and the young, the hopeful and the despairing. Grace the runners of the race of life. Save a crown for us, Dear Lord Jesus, to wear when we complete the circuit of days, the last laps of this race. We love you and sing in our hearts as we say your holy words….. Pray the Lord's Prayer.  04 09 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, it's Easter again. We wait all the lengthening days of Lent for this moment -- a long day's journey into light. And now that it is here we sing the songs of ancient memory -- "Christ the Lord is Risen Today," and "I serve a risen Savior, he's in the world today." And we say the ancient words -- "The Lord is risen!" "He is risen indeed!" We bring living flowers to remind us that you are still living. We fill balloons with one of your elements, helium, and let them rise toward the heavens, remembering that you are free from the bonds of death. We have, and we enjoy, the rites and rituals of your resurrection. Sometimes we even dress up a little better on this day, Easter Sunday. Today, we come here, to you.

 The world tries to distract us. It deluges us with Easter bunnies and little yellow chicks, with colored eggs and green fake grass. Dear Lord Jesus, we even give some credence to the thought that a little rabbit can produce chocolate eggs with a yolk of yellow sugar. All of which says that this is an important day. Something there must be of which we should lay hold. Help us to look again. Show us the tomb, silent in the rosy fingers of Easter dawn, and empty because you are not there. Show us the maiden kneeling in the last chill mists of night, her eyes filled with sorrow. Show us the men running to see for themselves, hoping to believe the unbelievable. And show us the two disheartened believers fleeing the city, only to be turned around by the Word and your living presence. 

Dear Lord Jesus, let all these memories come alive again in our hearts. And, most importantly, come yourself, in your living presence, in your light and laughter. Come into our darkness and shine there until we remember and take heart, until we lay our heavy burdens down, until we know again that you are alive and strong and you are with us on the journey, every day, every step, through all the years, the tears, the fears, on the golden days and in the deep shadows, when the mists gather in our lives. With us! You are with us! When we know that again we can truly celebrate Easter, sing all the songs, laugh at death, rejoice in suffering or in success. When we know that you are with us we can be new again and say once more, as if it were the very first time, the prayer you taught us to pray…..(pray the Lord's Prayer.)

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Dear Lord Jesus, The season of planting the seed goes forward. The earth warms, the south wind blows, and rain rides the wind and clouds. We feel the deep change in the days and are called again to sowing the seed. Send us into your fields; they are ready for our labor. The question is are we ready? We hesitate. We procrastinate. We are busy here and there while the hours escape. We are caught up in the concerns of this world, and all our time and energy are given to the tasks we chose or someone chooses for us. We work. We play. We are distracted from your call by the energy consuming things of every day. Is that bad? Do we not have to live in this world? Did you not give us freedom to choose? We ask these questions while we hear a still, small voice in our ear saying: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these shall be added unto you." So, help us, Dear Lord Jesus, to hear your call above the clamor of this world, the endless cacophony of demands, the ceaseless roar of calendars and schedules.

Dear Lord Jesus, show us the seed. Show us the fields. Give us a glimpse of the harvest awaiting our labor. And send us once more into the world changing, life shaping labor of bringing people into your realm, into your church. Shred our excuses into dust and send us into the fields again.

Be close to us this day. Be light in our darkness. Be hope in our despair. Be peace in the midst of pain. Be healing to the hurts of heart and body. Be joy beyond the walls of the world -- to which we aspire. And hear our words, every prayer we ask in your name, Dear Lord Jesus, and we offer you the words you first gave us… Pray the Lord's Prayer.  04 22 01

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Dear Lord Jesus, it is hard to be unhappy on lovely spring days like we have experienced recently.  May we enjoy these days as if they were foretastes of a greater glory waiting for us?  We know that you have not promised us happiness, just that you would be with us, and that is surely enough; but you walked the earth in springtime, you saw the opening of the little eyes of the earth, the lilies of the field, the flowers of the Galilee; you breathed the warming air and felt the great impulse of life surging throughout the whole created order.  So you know, and surely you will allow, perhaps encourage us to be happy today.  We can at least be thankful: Thank you for the sun and gentle rain, for the breezes that stir us, that remind us of the breath of life.  Thank you for the multicolor landscape of these growth-filled days.  Thank you for the games the young ones play in the spring --for kites in the wind, for jump rope and hopscotch and tag.  Thank you, Dear Lord Jesus, for open windows and sunbeams dancing upon the windowsills.  Thank you for all the wonder and awe inspired by this miraculous change we call spring.  May each flower, each new budding tree, the fragrance of lilac and all the sweetness of all the flowers stir in us a certainty of your love and care, remind us that you have the power to create and call beauty into being.  May this deluge of green and white and yellow and lilac -- all of it -- remind us of that fullness of joy that can only be found in your presence, in your Spirit.  Thank you for hearing and for listening.  Thank you for your creation new born, dear Lord Jesus.  We sing and rejoice and revel in your power and artistry.  In your sweet name, Jesus the Christ, hear the prayer you taught us to pray... Pray the Lord's Prayer.

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Dear Lord Jesus, Thank you for caring for us.  There are times when we care mightily for ourselves, times when we carefully watch the movement of the boat upon the river of life.  But there are times when we are discouraged, times when we are angry, times when we are frustrated, and in those times we may let our lives drift.  Save us from times like that.  Save us from the storm, from the unseen hazard.  Save us from inattention to the direction of this life you have given us.

Dear Lord Jesus, we ask you this day to save us from the wiles of the evil one.  The devil is angry as a wounded lion, sly as a serpent.  Wake our souls when we drift toward the territory of the enemy.  Keep us alert to the incursions of evil in our lives.  Shelter us from the sudden attack, from the fiery arrows of the evil one.  You are the Lord of time and history.  You are the alpha and the omega.  You are the conquering one.  You never lost a battle.  So be with us, your children, struggling here in the battle zone of daily life.  Be our shield, our sword; be our helmet, our armor.  Help us to stand and resist the ways of the evil one…with you, beside you, following you.  

Dear Lord Jesus, we ask for your healing mercies on all those who suffer this day.  Be with the sick and the dying.  Be close to all who laugh this day, let their laughter be like a prayer of thanksgiving to you, for all your mercies.  Be with the countries of this world.  Lead them in the paths of peace.  And bless our land with a rebirth of faith and devotion.  Renew our country with a mighty movement of your Spirit.  

We give you praise and glory in leaf time, in laughing time; in living time and in hour of our re-birth.  Yours is the glory and the honor and the power and majesty, forever and ever.  O hear our praise and our words of prayer given in your inspired word… Pray the Lord's Prayer.  05 07 00 

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Dear Lord Jesus, we are so glad to arrive here. It is as if this has been our destination all week but we just could not get in gear or in the right direction to bring us here. But we are physically present before you now, and happy to have found this place. This is holy ground. We know that this sacred space is a special site where we can meet you. So we figuratively take of our shoes in submission to you and your majestic grace. We look for your flaming bush and listen for your clear word.

Hear us as we pour out our thoughts and prayers. Hear even the prayers we have not brought to thought or word yet. We remember:

Those who journey in the shadow

Those suffering from cancer or other powerful adversaries of life

Those who are confused, disappointed, or in doubt

We remember the wholesome forms of care and nurture that we received from our mothers, grandmothers, and others who have been like mothers to us

We remember young adults caught in the pressures of final exams, those who are finishing high school or college and thus face new and scary decisions about life.

We remember all teachers, all nurses, all insurance and real estate people

We pour out these prayers, Dear Lord Jesus. It is such a joy to lay these burdens down. We carry them too much by ourselves. Thank you for carrying our cross for us.

Strengthen us to do your will in the time you have given us. Help us not to delay, but to use our gifts and graces to bring others to your throne. We know that the hour is short.

Bless us now as we quietly rest in your healing love and light. We are here in your strong name, Dear Lord Jesus, and in that name we offer the prayer you taught us …  Pray the Lord's Prayer. 05 09 99

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Dear Lord Jesus, you are our rock and our refuge, our ever-present help in time of trouble.  You are the lion and the lamb, the risen and ascended Lord.  You are the life of everything that breathes and the giver of life beyond this present breath.  We take heart when we think of you.  Our breath deepens and we feel our loads lighten when we speak your name.  Though we try to invest these earthly days with meaning, they only secure true and pure value when we bow before your throne.  There we find our hope, our joy, our peace and our destiny.  

To you, Dear Lord Jesus, we lift praise and honor and glory.  To you we offer the best of voice and instrument, our laughter and our lives, our failures and fears, our burdens and our tears -- we know that you save our tears, our sorrows.  We give our hearts true devotion and our sacred honor.  We give the heartbeat of the moment, and the accumulated rhythms of all our moments and days.  For you are the One whose name is above all names, before whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that you are Lord, to the glory of the Living God.  Your light transcends all our sense of loss and despair.  You scatter every darkness!  The sunlight is but your shadow.  You are the creator of all the worlds there are and of all that ever will be.  You are the source and the ending.  All things hold together in you, by the power of your grace.  You are the culmination of every good dream, of every long carried hope.  You are the culmination of history, and by you the battles for truth and justice will be won.  Living Lord you are the one who will wipe away every tear.  And when you come again in glory there will be no more death.  We let our lives be lifted by your Holy Breath, and we revel in the purity, the clarity, the cleansing waters that flow from your throne.  Hear us when we pray.  Call us by name.  Hold us with your everlasting love, and never forsake us.  We give you thanks and thankful living in your name, and to your name we pray this precious prayer… Pray the Lord's Prayer.  051400

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Dear Lord Jesus, We thank you for the blessings of this day: for home and loved ones, friends of the journey of days, for life and health and the beauty of the season, for your invitation to come into your presence this holy Sabbath day.  We thank you this day for Light:  for sunlight and moonlight, for starlight and candlelight, for glowworm glow light on a grass blade.  We thank you that you are the Light of the world.  Remind us to reflect that wondrous light in the rounds of the everyday journey, through sunshine and shadow. 

  Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you for your mercy this day.  You touch our lives and they are renewed.  We find our breath deepening, our hearts beating faster, our spirits stirred from the dullness of the daily commute, from the sameness of routine jobs; our spirits are awakened from the deadening frustrations of too much pain, from the aches of the years, stirred to renewed hope.  We take heart in your healing touch and we smile again.  Leaning toward your mercy we find our lives lifted toward the heavens, soaring on the winds of your grace.  We thank you, Dear Lord Jesus, that you care for us and always answer when we cry out to you. 

  Be near to all this day.  Be life and joy and hope unfading.  Be strength to the weary.  Be health to the sick.  Be peace to the troubled.  Be certainty to the doubting soul.  Be the shepherd to the lost.  Be the open door to those who feel left out.  May the lambent rays of your mercy shine on us this day, on all of us, on each of us.  Dear Lord Jesus, we reach into silence and find sound, shaping it into words and filling them with our hopes, our dreams, and we send these to you.  O hear us, and hear the words we speak together… Pray the Lord's Prayer.            05 20 01

Dear Lord Jesus, You are the bright and morning star.  You are the sunrise on a cloudless day.  You are the beginning and the end.  You are our companion in between the beginning and the end.  We praise your holy name this day, and give thanks for your mercy, ceaseless as waves of the deep, soothing at the gentle rain on the windowpane.  To you we bring our words of praise, our words of need, our unspoken words -- the hopes and dreams of our days.  We look up when we are here, at your calling.  We lift our hearts before you.  We feel our spirits grow light, taking flight, soaring on eagle's wings in the updrafts of your holy wind.  Just be with us, and touch us in places of our deepest need, today, in this holy space.  To you be praise and honor, power and glory, forever.

  Dear Lord Jesus, we remember this day those who have died in wars, giving their lives in defense of their families and friends.  We mark their sacrifice with our memories and remember them before you this hour. 

  Save us from the insidious enemy named despair.  With all the reasons to be filled with hope, with all the Words of sacred writ before us, we still may fall before the adversary who tempts us to give up, to lose hope, to quit.  Show us your sunlight that chases every shadow, every mist, and every gloom wrapped wraith of despair.  Give us hope again.

  We ask that you be near to those who suffer this day.  Be peace to all whose lives are troubled.  Be with families and individuals.  Be with the children who dream about warm summer days.  Be yourself to all of us, Dear Lord Jesus, and refresh our hearts again.  In your name we speak, and in your name we pray your prayer together…  Pray the Lord's Prayer. 05 27 01

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Dear Lord Jesus, you are our rock and our refuge, our ever-present help in time of trouble.  You are the lion and the lamb, the risen and ascended Lord.  You are the life of everything that breathes and the giver of life beyond this present breath.  We take heart when we think of you.  Our breath deepens and we feel our loads lighten when we speak your name.  Though we try to invest these earthly days with meaning, they only secure true and pure value when we bow before your throne.  There we find our hope, our joy, our peace and our destiny.  To you, Dear Lord Jesus, we lift praise and honor and glory.  To you we offer the best of voice and instrument, our laughter and our lives, our failures and fears, our burdens and our tears -- we know that you save our tears, our sorrows.  We give our hearts true devotion and our sacred honor.  We give the heartbeat of the moment, and the accumulated rhythms of all our moments and days.  For you are the One whose name is above all names, before whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that you are Lord, to the glory of the Living God.  Your light transcends all our sense of loss and despair.  You scatter every darkness!  The sunlight is but your shadow.  You are the creator of all the worlds there are and of all that ever will be.  You are the source and the ending.  All things hold together in you, by the power of your grace.  You are the culmination of every good dream, of every long carried hope.  You are the culmination of history, and by you the battles for truth and justice will be won.  Living Lord you are the one who will wipe away every tear.  And when you come again in glory there will be no more death.  We let our lives be lifted by your Holy Breath, and we revel in the purity, the clarity, the cleansing waters that flow from your throne.  Hear us when we pray.  Call us by name.  Hold us with your everlasting love, and never forsake us.  We give you thanks and thankful living in your name, and to your name we pray this precious prayer… Pray the Lord's Prayer.  051400

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Dear Lord Jesus, on each Sabbath day we turn aside from the work of the week to seek a place of grace.  We seek a face we have known across the journey of days.  For you, Dear Lord Jesus, we look for you -- not out of any compulsion, external or internal; but out of love we seek you.  Your love constrains us to look for you this day.  You have called us by name.  You have graced us with forgiveness and acceptance.  You love us with an infinite love.  So we turn toward you this day, seeking your face.  In your welcoming smile we find our hope for all days to come.  You are the One, the maker of worlds, the conqueror of death and hell.  You are the everlasting light.  You shine in every darkness, sending fears and doubts to flight.  We rest easy in your living grace.  

We have asked this day for your Spirit to descend upon us.  We have prayed for several young people that your Holy Fire would kindle the flame of faith within their lives, a small flame lasting the length of their days here, a light to go with them on their journey.  Be pleased to hear us and grant them your living presence.  Be a lamp unto their feet and a light unto their paths.  Fill them with courage unfailing and steadfast hope unfading.  Grant them power to achieve your dreams for their lives.  Give them daily missions in this world of lost-ness.  Let them find others to follow you.  Send them to the hungry, the lame, the blind.  Let them be light bearers for you.

Dear Lord Jesus, give unto all a new birth, a new beginning, a new blessing of your Spirit's power, in you and through you and to you we bring all our prayers... Pray the Lord's Prayer.  06 03 01

Dear Lord Jesus, life just keeps moving on, like a river swiftly running over rocks, laughing on a sunny day, or sometimes, as on a day of clouds and rain, heavy with silt.  Life does not stand still.  We are transient creatures; longing for stillness we can feel and absorb, but unable to find it.  Your human creatures, Dear Lord Jesus, are restless and pulled from one moment to the next, from one job to the next, from one interruption to the next.  We try to stand still in the present and it turns into the past.  And we cannot live in the future, though it weighs upon us like some reality in which we already live.  Where is the peace?  Where is the solitude?  Where is the Life we lose in the living?  Help us, Dear Lord Jesus, to understand, or to stand under your mercy until we are at peace with you.  In the middle of a blazing light speed existence, help us to find the still point of peace.  In you -- in you, Dear Lord Jesus!  You are not time-caught, time wracked, stretched between the hither and the farther shore.  So, give us a bit of peace today.  Invade our hectic lives with your silence, with your holiness.  Enter the door we open to you and your everlastingness.  Fill our restless spirits with the peace that passes understanding.  Create in us a place apart, where we may go and find ourselves in your presence, where we may live and thrive in the beauty of holiness.  O hear us, your human children, seeking your peace and presence today.

Bring peace to all who suffer this day, to all who hurt, whose lives seem hollow and empty.  Be with all who need your touch on this Sabbath morn.  Dear Lord Jesus, hear our remembrances of those who are in your bright land, lost to our vision, but at home with you, with all the hosts, with sunlight and gladness surrounding them always.  We remember them and take heart, taking their goals and dreams as our own.  We love you and need your love always.  And in solemn prayer we echo your loving words… Pray the Lord's Prayer.  05 28 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, We thank you for the blessings of this day: for home and loved ones, friends of the journey of days, for life and health and the beauty of the season, for your invitation to come into your presence this holy Sabbath day.  We thank you this day for Light:  for sunlight and moonlight, for starlight and candlelight, for glowworm glow light on a grass blade.*  We thank you that you are the Light of the world.  Remind us to reflect that wondrous light in the rounds of the everyday journey, through sunshine and shadow. 

Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you for your mercy this day.  You touch our lives and they are renewed.  We find our breath deepening, our hearts beating faster, our spirits stirred from the dullness of the daily commute, from the sameness of routine jobs; our spirits are awakened from the deadening frustrations of too much pain, from the aches of the years, stirred to renewed hope.  We take heart in your healing touch and we smile again.  Leaning toward your mercy we find our lives lifted toward the heavens, soaring on the winds of your grace.  We thank you, Dear Lord Jesus, that you care for us and always answer when we cry out to you. 

Be near to all this day.  Be life and joy and hope unfading.  Be strength to the weary.  Be health to the sick.  Be peace to the troubled.  Be certainty to the doubting soul.  Be the shepherd to the lost.  Be the open door to those who feel left out.  May the lambent rays of your mercy shine on us this day, on all of us, on each of us.  Dear Lord Jesus, we reach into silence and find sound, shaping it into words and filling them with our hopes, our dreams, and we send these to you.  O hear us, and hear the words we speak together… Pray the Lord's Prayer.           05 20 01
*images from T. S. Eliot

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Dear Lord Jesus, Your reign of love is higher than the heavens, the most distant star sings your name.  Your dominion and power are nearer than our latest breath; you are closer than life.  We sing your praises, along with the whole of creation -- stars and seas, mountains and fields golden with harvest.  Yours is the glory and honor, blessing and praise forevermore.  We honor your name, and offer ourselves as thankful servants.  Draw us near to you this day.  Lure us toward your blessed throne on this day of rainbows and tongues of flame.  Let us find our greatest joy in your powerful presence.  Let the winds of your Spirit blow from your throne, reaching us, touching us, changing us, renewing us.   

Several of your children come before you this day.  They were called in baptism and nurtured in the Sunday School, in Bible School, in youth choirs, and in the celebration of your holiness in worship in the church.  We ask you to empower them for service in your kingdom.  Give them ears to hear your voice, eyes to see your vision, and the will to follow you.  Transform their earnest commitment into deeds of love and mercy and justice.  May they serve you faithfully all the days of their life.  Equip them for battle with evil and oppression.  Give them your word for sustenance and courage.  Give them hope unfading.  Give them strength to resist the multitude of temptations that surround them in this secular culture.  Call them home each Sabbath to sing and pray and praise in the midst of your people.  Give them a place.  We rejoice in your every promise and claim them for our young people and for all of us.

Be comfort to those whose light is fading.  Show them the light eternal.  Be peace to the troubled; let your mercy fall like gentle rain on a dry ground.  Lift up the fallen.  Hold the dying.  Bless the strong.  Keep us all close to you.  You are nearer than breath.  We speak in your powerful name, Dear Lord Jesus, and we answer your mercies with your prayer… Pray the Lord's Prayer.    06 25 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, we are here again. We keep coming to this time and space, this place of grace, seeking your presence, seeking your face. We know that you are from everlasting to everlasting. We know that you are the king of kings and Lord of Lords. And before you we bow to confess our failures. We have not done all we can. We have not been all we are called to be. Bowing before you and being reassured of your endless mercy is our healing balm, our cold glass of water on a steaming summer day. Your forgiveness and grace are the food we need for our daily journey. We find them here. We thank you here, in this time of quietness before your throne.

Dear Lord Jesus, are there personal words that you would speak to us, individually, your people walking the road through the wilderness? What would you say? If you spoke to us what would we hear? Words like:

-Do not give up. Go the distance for me.

-I love you with an everlasting love; it is really all you need.

-Give up trying to replace me with the meager pleasures of this life.

-Parents, love your children as I love you.

-I think much more of you than you do of yourself. Don't be harder on yourself than I am.

-If you need help I am always here.

-My power is enough for you.

So we listen for you this summer day, Dear Lord Jesus, knowing that you love all of us, each of us, and we welcome your words into believing hearts. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Be with all of us this day. Be close to all parents. Speak to those who long to be here and cannot. Touch lives longing for you this day. Refresh the weary. Heal the sick. Comfort the dying. We give you these words, and also the words you taught us to say… Pray the Lord's Prayer.

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Dear Lord Jesus, sometimes prayer is easy and words come flooding forth like the rush of the tide at its full.  That often happens when the world has backed off a bit, when the pressure has eased up some, when a goal has been attained, or in one of those moments when the sun seems to shine unhindered on us.  Those times are rare enough, but we thank you for each one of them.  We need them to balance the shadow, the chill, the night of grief or shame, the fading of dreams and days, and the lonely struggle to walk the long journey of years. 

Dear Lord Jesus, when the pressure is back, when the days are long, then prayer is like the ebbing of the tide, words are hollow and empty, like the tidal mud flats filled with unfragrant smells.  When life is like that prayer seems to be just another burden, just one too many things to lift, so our words are few are often unclear.

We need you at both times, Dear Lord Jesus.  When life is sweet, we need your smile to channel our enthusiasm.  When life is sour we need your smile to remind us of the joy at the heart of our faith.  We are so glad that you always hear us, that the quantity or even the quality of our words are not important.  We rejoice that you command the wind and waves, that You are there for us in sunshine and shadow, in the fullest flow and during the ebbing of the tide, and we can count on that being true always.  Thank you, Dear Lord Jesus, that you are constant and true to your world, to your church, to us.  Hear us, help us, then, wherever we are on the journey today.  It is in your sweet name that we pray the prayer you taught us…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.

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Dear Lord Jesus, life just keeps moving on, like a river swiftly running over rocks, laughing on a sunny day, or sometimes, as on a day of clouds and rain, heavy with silt. Life does not stand still. We are transient creatures; longing for stillness we can feel and absorb, but unable to find it. Your human creatures, Dear Lord Jesus, are restless and pulled from one moment to the next, from one job to the next, from one interruption to the next. We try to stand still in the present and it turns into the past. And we cannot live in the future, though it weighs upon us like some reality in which we already live. Where is the peace? Where is the solitude? Where is the Life we lose in the living? Help us, Dear Lord Jesus, to understand, or to stand under your mercy until we are at peace with you. In the middle of a blazing light speed existence, help us to find the still point of peace. In you -- in you, Dear Lord Jesus! You are not time-caught, time wracked, stretched between the hither and the farther shore. So, give us a bit of peace today. Invade our hectic lives with your silence, with your holiness. Enter the door we open to you and your everlastingness. Fill our restless spirits with the peace that passes understanding. Create in us a place apart, where we may go and find ourselves in your presence, where we may live and thrive in the beauty of holiness. O hear us, your human children, seeking your peace and presence today.

Bring peace to all who suffer this day, to all who hurt, whose lives seem hollow and empty. Be with all who need your touch on this Sabbath morn. Dear Lord Jesus, hear our remembrances of those who are in your bright land, lost to our vision, but at home with you, with all the hosts, with sunlight and gladness surrounding them always. We remember them and take heart, taking their goals and dreams as our own. We love you and need your love always. And in solemn prayer we echo your loving words….pray the Lord's Prayer.

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Dear Lord Jesus, You are the first and the last, the everlasting One.  You stand in the midst of the golden candlesticks and hold the stars in your right hand.  You are the Lion and the Lamb, our strength and our salvation.  You are the fount of mercies and the source of unending joy.  We rejoice in your holy name and offer all our praise to you this Sabbath day.

We confess that we are more interested in happiness than in service.  We like things to go on evenly, smoothly.  We enjoy a steady routine of days, without much pain, with a modicum of joy.  We enjoy little adventures and slight risks.  Dear Lord Jesus, we are like Tolkien's hobbit, we think most of our comfortable fireside and warm bed.  We pray for these things daily.  They are not bad things, and we rejoice when they come to us regularly.

Help us this day, Dear Lord Jesus, to be aware of the times when you call us out of ourselves and into a special place of service to you.  When we are being true to your call we are most truly ourselves.  O help us not miss the times and places for commitment to your church, for caring for the afflicted, for feeding the hungry, and for doing battle with the principalities and powers of this fleeting world.  Sound your clear, certain trumpet.  Let us hear the call and respond in faith, following you always.

Be near to those who suffer pain and loneliness today.  Be close to those who are tired and despair of the burden of their days.  Bless the newborn in body, the newborn in spirit.  Surround them with your holy laughter and joy.

Strengthen all of us, Dear Lord Jesus, as we lean into your Holy Wind, lean toward your emerald throne with hearts and voices united in your prayer…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.

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Dear Lord Jesus, the burden of a soul is often heavy.  We get weighed down with sorrows, grief, grievances -- real and imagined, and with the normal accumulation of years and tears.

Help us, Dear Lord Jesus, to take up your yoke again.  For you have said to us: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."  (Matthew 11:28-30.)  So help us to take up your yoke whenever our lives are filled with sadness.  Help us today.

Help us to see the sunlight on the trees, the sunlight over the rivers, to feel the sunlight of your love shining into our hearts.  Create in us beauty that will reflect your lambent glory to others.  Send your spirit to fill us with an amazing zeal and power for your Kingdom.  Show us what we need to be doing for you in this season of waning sun and chilling rain.  May we not lose heart.  May we find our spirits quickened by the changing days, by your unchanging grace.  So fit us for service in your harvest field this fall.

Bless those who rejoice.  Be with those whose hearts are filled with laughter.  Be with the grieving ones.  Be with the glowing ones.  Be with all of us in this season of leaf fire and leaf fall.  Be with those who are certain of you, and with all of us when we are not.  Rejoice us in this holy time and space, and hear every prayer, even this one we all offer to you…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.

We thank you for this immense journey. We thank you for your Spirit guide. We thank you for the companions of the long journey, and we thank you that you refresh us on the way.

Dear Lord, Jesus, we pray for those injured along the running stream of life, crushed on rocks or sunken logs, caught in the intruding debris of chaotic adversaries. Lift them with your caring strength, and heal them, and set them again on the river, or, if the hurt is beyond what breath can bear, beyond the beating of the heart, then swiftly take them home, Dear Lord Jesus. We commend them you your love and care.

And keep us in your sights, Dear Lord Jesus, as we negotiate the next turn in the river. Watch over us. Sustain us, and let us always remember your unfailing love, your unfading hope, and that when we finish the journey we will be home.

Hear us, Dear Lord Jesus. Hear our heart words to you, and hear the sacred words we now pray together…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.

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Dear Lord Jesus, Your name is holy. With reverence, in fear and trembling, we approach your throne. We lift up our eyes from afar, looking for your face as one who has survived a dark night of suffering looks for the light of a new day. You are the Daystar from on high. We rejoice to see your presence. You are the morning splendor, the radiance from above. Let us see a glimpse of your glory; shine you light upon us this day, everlasting Lord, light of lights.

Dear Lord Jesus, we come for your feast this day. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table; but your nature is mercy, and for that we ask. Be merciful to us. Your name is Love, and your love we seek. Cleanse us from unrighteousness and restore a right spirit within us. Gather us again, around your table and feed us on the bread of life.

We think of labor this last weekend of summer. We remember in this time and place, all those who work with their hands, those who work with their minds, all those who bring their gifts into the service of others. Bless those who work as an expression of thanks for the gifts you give. We thank you for our days of laboring in the vineyards of life, and we are grateful to rise each new day, to stand in your light, and to work anew.

Dear Lord Jesus, be close to the sick, strengthen the persecuted, comfort the dying. Bless the schools and the teachers, the leaders of education, and the parents of schoolchildren. Teach them your lessons, Dear Lord Jesus. They are your children. We offer ourselves before you, rejoicing to be found near your radiance, and we speak our gratitude in words we were taught to say…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.  09 03 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, we sing your praises this day. Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. With those surrounding your throne we join our voices, saying: You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created. We bow before you and honor your name, for you were slain and are alive and You are worthy of power and wealth, and wisdom and might, and honor and glory and blessing! All things co-inhere in you, and with you is the fullness of mercy. In this time and space, bowed before you on this Sabbath day, we lift hearts to you and offer our words, our thoughts, our songs, our hopes and dreams. Seeking release from the sins that binds us, seeking peace within our souls, and longing for a taste of your goodness, we reach out toward your throne, crying your name -- Almighty God, Everlasting One, Jesus the Faithful Witness, the firstborn of the dead. O seek us seeking you, and  with your tender mercies envelop us, accepting, cleansing, and renewing each of us and all of us together.

Dear Lord Jesus, we remember your church this day. May it endure until the end of time. We remember the millions who have been killed because they believed in you and your church. We remember the blessings you have given us here over the years. We remember our baptisms and our vows. Strengthen us this day and for all the days ahead.

Dear Lord Jesus, save those who seek you, bless those who wait for you, comfort those who mourn, bless those whose voices fill this room with music -- songs of joy for you. Dear Lord Jesus, lift the burdens of those weighed down with cares, and sweep us all with the holy wind of your grace -- refresh us this day. We praise you and wait before you, in silence, and uttering the sound of the prayer you taught us, saying…  Pray sthe Lord's Prayer.  09 10 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you this day for many blessings:

For friends of the journey who stay friends in all times and seasons

For family and loved ones who continue to surround us with evidences of love and care

For fresh air to breathe, the cooling breezes that touch the land at evening

For clear, clean water to drink each day

For smiles and greetings

For the laughter of children

For butterflies and hummingbirds, for rabbits and squirrels and deer

For a beautiful sanctuary in which to gather to sing your praises.

For life and breath and being

For another week in which to serve you

For all your blessings we give you thanks this day. May they shape our lives into vessels to hold your grace, to store your peace and joy. Fill us with resources for the journey of life, for our mission to reach out to others who have not heard of your blessings.

Most especially, Dear Lord Jesus, we are thankful for you, the greatest blessing, the blessing unsurpassable. For what you are, and for what you have done for us, we will always be grateful. May your church in this place always reflect a joyful sensitivity to your grace and a willingness to share it with others.

We ask blessings this day, Dear Holy One: be comfort to the suffering, the dying; be hope to the despairing; be peace to the disturbed; bring understanding enough for all the mysteries of life and death; touch our lips and our hands -- let them move for you this week, speak words of hope, do acts of kindness. Blessings, Dear Lord Jesus, we say the word and think of you. You are the sum of all blessings in this life and in the world to come. We thank you and utter the words you taught us to say…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.  09 17 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, we rejoice that you have told us not to fear. "Fear not!" You tell us. And we hear those words and tremble. It is not easy to "Fear not!" And some of our fears we rather enjoy, they stimulate us, keep us alert, or they distract us from something from which we want distracting. But we do not like being afraid. It is a poor place to stand, fear. So, as often is the case, we are caught between the sheer joy of your audacious command and our human weakness in response to it. Help us, Dear Lord Jesus, to know that what you command you enable. Help us to see that we can be -- more and more -- without fear. The more we trust in you, the less fear will penetrate our hearts. Save us from "fear" as an everyday condition of our heart, and lead us toward a fearless reliance on you. So strengthen us, help us, uphold us with your righteous right hand. We wait upon you here in this place and we remember your words that whoever waits on you will renew their strength, will soar on wings like eagles, will run and not grow weary, will walk and not faint. We wait for you, claiming your words, your saving grace. Be with us this day.

Dear Lord Jesus, hear the prayers of all today. Hear and grant your saving touch:

To those who walk in pain

To those who suffer depression

To those who fight disease and debilitating illness

To the hungry, the thirsty, the lonely

To those alienated from family

To those who speak to you in silence, pouring out the deepest needs of their lives

Be strength to the feeble, sight to the blind.

Be words to those who find shaping sounds difficult

Be with all of us in this sacred place, a resting-place on the journey to your Holy Land.

Answer us and we will not be afraid; but we will take heart and journey faithfully, singing and saying your holy words…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.

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Dear Lord Jesus, help us to be true to our faith and true to you when things are difficult.

When we have to stand alone;

When loyalty to you separates us from our friends;

When doing the right thing causes us to become objects of ridicule or laughter:

Help us still to be true to you.

Help us to be true to our faith and true to you, when it costs us something.

When our relationship to you demands more of our time than we really want to give;

When our relationship to you calls us to give more of our money than we really want to give;

When our closeness to you calls for more of an effort than we really want to make:

Help us still to be true to you.

Help us, Lord Jesus, to be true to our faith and true to you when it goes against our own wants and nature.

When we don't want to be unselfish;

When we have no desire to help others;

When the last thing we want to do is to forgive some who has injured us;

Help us still to be true to you.

Give us grace to do what we cannot do and to be what we cannot be. Help us to remember that by ourselves we can do little, but that with you all things are possible. In the sure and certain name of Jesus the Christ, who taught us to pray...  Pray the Lord's Prayer

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Dear Lord Jesus, you are the Morning Star, the light that shines in every darkness; you are the Faithful Witness, the first born from the dead. You are the lamb who was slain and yet is standing alive forevermore. You are the Shepherd who searches for the missing sheep until it is found. You are the source of life -- all the swirling nebulae sing your praise, dance in your honor. The motion of atoms and galaxies are evidences of your ordering behind the chaos of our vision. You are the Lord of Life, you are the Savior of humankind. You are worthy of glory and honor and praise. And you have invited us to meet you here in this place today. That you know who we are is sheer amaze unto us. That you care who we are is wondrous to us. We gratefully answer your invitation with our presence. And we pray that you accept us, the least of your creation, into your sanctuary this day.

Dear Lord Jesus, we ask you to forgive our sins. Cleanse us and renew us. Heal us and send us forth with the certainty which this encounter with you deserves. Help us to tell others of your grace and mercy freely given. Help us to sound a certain trumpet call to honor your name in every nation and every city, every town and every neighborhood. Strengthen us to speak for you.

Dear Lord Jesus, in your sanctuary, we ask for peace for the troubled hearts, tranquility for the troubled minds, for a restoration of quiet certainty in our fretful spirits. Hear every prayer. Lighten every load. Chase away our fears. We pray, in your strong name, Dear Lord, the prayer you gave us…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.  10 08 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you for cool days at the beginning of autumn. We thank you for leaf change and light change. We thank you for the gathering of the Monarch butterflies before their pilgrimage to Mexico. We thank you for the late flowers and the fall gardens. We see the beginning of leaf color in the hills, and in individual trees in town. The reds in the maples, the yellows of the Hickories, begin to appear. In the country the harvest is being gathered in -- the corn and beans, the pumpkin and Milo. In fall, Dear Lord Jesus, the air seems cleaner, clearer. Train sounds can be heard farther. Sounds of marching bands and football games fill the night air. We ready the rakes and start looking for the leaf bags, in preparation for the great change just ahead. The lovely weather is a blessing, the leaves-- the last lovely smile of the year. Soon the north wind will return, chilling the land, bringing with it the feeling that the earth is shutting down for the winter. And ice will rule. But not today, Dear Lord Jesus. And so we thank you for the changes by which we mark our days and years. Help us to know, to mark the days, and gain a heart of wisdom.

Strengthen the weak hands, the feeble knees. Renew the light in the eyes of those who struggle to see. Touch the lips of those who have lost flow of speech. Be bread to the hungry and water to the thirsty. Call us to acts of mercy to all those in need. We are your servants and mercy is your name.

Hear our prayers for the ill, the recovering, the hospitalized, and the lost. Hear our prayers for your people all around the world today as we gather at your table, one in your heavenly banquet. And hear the prayer that brings us together, the prayer you taught us…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.       10 01 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you this day for light through the leaves, for the silence of a chill morning. We thank you for the gold and red and brown of the hills, for the land's last lovely smile of the year, for fading sunlight slanting through the forest cover, and we thank you that we may witness this evidence of your providential care. For eyes to see your glory, we give you thanks.

Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you for sound and silence, for a brisk walk on a cool day, for the animals getting ready for winter, and for sunsets competing with each other for depth of color. Thank you, Dear Lord, for eyes to see your glory.

We thank you for friends and family, those circles of love and respect that nourish and sustain us over years and miles. We thank you for smiles and laughter, reminders of your infinite joy. We thank you for the sweet faces of children, they remind us of holiness unsullied by sin and sorrow. We thank you for all the love and care that uphold our earthly journey.

And for your care for us, though we are just flesh, a passing breeze that does not return, still you care for us with an infinite love, you know us by name. For your forgiveness, your mercy, for your spirit given to renew our own life-breath, for your word of faith that calls forth faith and life from us we give you thanks. Yours is the glory and the power, the blessing and the majesty, forever. We bow before you this day and wait upon your word. Touch us with peace today. Move us to move others to peace. Let the peoples stop their anger and hear your voice. Bring peace to the places of discord this day. We pray in the name, strong and true, the name of Jesus the Christ, who taught us to pray…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.  10 15 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you for Bittersweet and pyracantha, for Burning Bush and Sumac, for yellow hickories and red maples. For all the clear signs of fall in the hills and throughout the land, we give you thanks. We thank you for the soft days at the end of a season of change, the warmth of the waning sun, the clear blue of the firmament. Before the winter is upon us we pause and offer our prayer of thanks. For all your blessings we are grateful.

There are interruptions in a soft season: moments of sudden, fiery death. They remind us of the brevity of life and the importance of using it well. Be with those who mourn the loss of loved ones. Speak to us again the words of life: whosoever believes in you shall not perish but have everlasting life. We believe and affirm this faith for all our partings.

We remember before you all those who have gone through surgery recently: speed their recoveries. We pray for those who have broken bones: may they knit quickly and strongly. We ask for courage for all who need it today; life can be very scary, and change, even needed change, is difficult. We ask for hope for the despairing -- Lord we need a vision of meaning for the days to come. Let us not just go through life with no sense of purpose, no destination. Show us again your mercy this day. You have already done that just by calling us to come before you this moment. Be yourself to us. Call us by name. Tell us you will not forsake us, and bring us all, at the last, to the portals of your everlasting Kingdom, we ask in the sweet name of Jesus, our Savior and Lord, who gave us soft words of prayer…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.  10 22 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, we approach your throne with fear and trembling, we feel the shaking of the foundations, we see the smoke from the lamps around your throne, we hear the elders and creatures singing "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts." And we rejoice to be invited to stand in your rainbow light and breathe in the pure air of holiness. Thank you, Dear Lord, for bringing us again to this time and place.

We think of spirits this week, Dear Lord Jesus. Little ones, dressed in costumes, will visit our doors seeking some kind of treat. We confess that the celebration has become secular. We remember that it was started to remind us of the powers that conquer evil and darkness and death. Help us to revive the truth that you have given us -- you are the antidote to the poison of violence; you are the force that overcomes evil with goodness; you are the lamb that was slain and is alive -- conquering the last enemy death. So we remember and rejoice.

Dear Lord Jesus, stand by those who suffer. Be near to the ill and the recovering. Lift up the fallen and the lame. Hold close to you those whose spirits need repair. Refresh our spirits with your true Spirit, your gift to the people who follow. Take all of us by the hand and lead us forward toward the light of your never setting sun. Enlighten us with your life giving Word, and lighten our daily burdens. We kneel before you, we offer our hopes, our dreams, our lives to you, Dear Lord Jesus, and we lean toward you as we unite our voices in the sacred words you taught us…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.  10 29 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, You are the Lord of life and death. You are the everlasting one, the ruler of time and history. Yours is the glory and honor and praise forevermore. The lilies of the field are yours. The oak trees of a thousand hills are yours. You number the sparrows and mark their lighting. Yours are the laughter of children and the fullness of every breath we take. All are yours and you are God's and God is everywhere connected, in touch with the whole of creation. We give you praise and join with all your creation in homage to your precious name.

Hear us this day, Most Holy, as we remember before you the names of saints who have borne the burden of the day, and have crossed the boundary of night into the light of your everlasting day. We thank you for them. We remember and rejoice in their life on this side of the river, and we rejoice that they are in strength and gladness with you this hour. Their voices ring in our remembering ears, and now they sing your praises in the heavenly places. We will always remember.

We ask you to receive and bless the gifts of time and talent, money and service brought before your throne today. We offer them as a part of the dedication of all of life to you. In our giving we are echoing in this human flesh what you, Dear Lord Jesus, did in your human days -- you gave to save all of us. We give because you gave, because it is a good and joyful thing to do. Receive and bless our gifts.

Be with those who hunger, the sick, the dying, the lonely, the lost. Bring us all into your kingdom, toward which we lean as we offer these sacred words… Pray the Lord's Prayer.  11 05 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, Light and life are yours alone. Holiness and beauty flow from your throne. Yours is majesty and power; yours the sacred call to prayer that greets us in this blessed hour. Thine, O Lord, is the fount of praise, flowing on through all our days of journey in this earthly vale, all our moments within the pale of your love alone.

Dear Lord Jesus, Thine are the moments and the days, the holy seasons, all the ways we find to embrace Thy holy name. In prayer we lean into the gale, the Holy Fire, the Wind, and do not fail to find forgotten memories surfaced and washed in the expiatory stream of your Spirit free, given to us, given to me. Dear Lord Jesus, Thine are the forgotten hours, the twisted time, the hour of abuse and scorn. Thine to find and free us from our hidden selves, our old wound that seeps, unbidden, into the streaming flow of our thoughts and restless dreams.

Dear Lord Jesus, Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory; Thine is the sunlight on every hill; Thine the leaf dappled light on every rill; Thine is the first and last page of the Will, the testament of this maze of living. Thine, Dear Jesus, Thine. Seek until you find.

Shine your Holy Light; reveal the wanton thought, the wayward drifting, the slow stumble into shadow. Show us, Dear Lord Jesus, in time to turn and face your laughing light, the brilliance of your face, the bane to fear and the chancel of safety to every breathing soul. Stand us in your light until every shadow has fled, every dream pure and every sorrow shed before your throne, for yours was the kingdom, the power, and the glory all along; we bow in peace as we join to sing your sacred song…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.  11 19 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, you are the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When we sing "Crown Him with many crowns, the lamb upon his throne," it is of you we sing. You are the lion and the lamb. You are enthroned in glory everlasting, and this day we give thanks and praise that you stand in light unsullied by shadow, that where you are there is no stain. The amaranthine hues of your flowers are like newly created colors, unseen by human eyes; viewed only by those saints and angels surrounding your throne. You are the King. In you love and mercy meet.

Dear Lord Jesus, we ask that you stay with us. We are still on this journey between the hither and the farther shores. We live in sunlight and shadow. Our land is often stained with injustice and hatred. We see daily the reports of crimes and and cruelty. Our own thoughts and deeds are far from perfect. We can only dream of perfection like that in your kingdom. So stay with us lest we fall into shadow and be lost. Give us light to see the path, strength to take the step, and hope that does not desert us. Bring us through this earthly journey, even unto your eternal day.

Bless us this hour. Bless the homes; bless the families, the children. Bless those who face surgery soon. Be near the sick and dying. Dear Lord Jesus, remind us again of your glory and keep our eyes fixed upon it.

Fill our lives with music. Let us sing your songs of survival and triumph. We lift our lives and our hearts to you and utter the words so long remembered…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.  11 26 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, Yours is the Name above every name. At Your name all creatures -- winged creatures, swimming creatures, singing birds, beasts that walk on the earth, and your human creatures join in the dance of worship, standing on tip-toe before your throne. We breathe your spirit and with joyful voices give you praise. Yours is the glory and the power and the majesty forever and ever. To you we bring our deepest hopes. To you we send our requests for change in this your world. To you we cry for help and to you we smile in thanksgiving.

Dear Lord Jesus, the season of harvest is almost past. We sing, "All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin. God our maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied. Come to God’s own temple come; raise the song of harvest home."  You have given us showers of blessing, gifts beyond our imagining. We can hardly grumble that you have not blessed us on this journey to the Promised Land. We are grateful and give you thanks for the blessings of harvest and home, of church and family, of food and clothing and shelter. Thankful for all your gifts, we ask for grateful hearts, to serve you faithfully all our days of this pilgrim journey.

Bless all your children this day. Help us to be blessings to the hungry, the poor, and the distressed. Send hope to the despairing and healing to the suffering. And hear every prayer. Rejoice every heart. We ask in your name, the Name above every name, and we pray this sacred prayer…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.  11 18 01

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Dear Lord Jesus, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are your ways, Kings of the ages. Lord, who will not fear and glorify your name? For you only are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your judgments have been revealed. On your robe is inscribed, "King of kings, and Lord of lords." Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and your reign shall never end. Praise be to you this day, for your name is exalted, and you are crowned as Lord and King. We know that you will return soon to wipe away every tear from the eyes of your saints. Then death will be no more and mourning and pain shall be no more, for the former things are passed away.

Dear Lord Jesus, we would be faithful to you and your righteous reign. Help us, your human children, to stand strong in these tumultuous days. Strengthen us with your mighty power. Reinforce our wills to take action for you. May we put on your armor, for the struggle is with principalities and powers, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness. Give us truth and peace, give us righteousness and faith, give us salvation and spirit – to combat the powers that oppose us. Lead us onward in the struggle against evil and fill us with a hope that does not pass away.

Be with us as we gather here. Grant us relief from our distresses. Assuage our grief. Lift our burdens by the power of your Spirit. And ready us this hour for the battle ahead. Hear every prayer, we ask in your name, Dear Lord Jesus, and to you we bring this prayer…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.       11 25 01

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Dear Lord Jesus, We enter today into a new landscape on our journey to your kingdom. We enter the season of Advent. Yes, we bring with us the familiar symbols, the candles, the music, the decorations, the familiar colors on the altar; but this is the only Advent 2001 we will pass through. This is another of those familiar, yet different locations on the journey home. This place is filled with growing light from our wreath of candles, with feelings of hope, spoken as we light them. Here we find a longing for certainty in a world filled with too much information and too little certainty. And here, within these walls, we experience the intense longing for your return. We need you with us on the journey. Show us your face. Make this a place of grace. Fill our hearts with the overwhelming knowledge of your unceasing care. Tell us you love us. Lift the heavy burdens from our spirits. Pry us loose from the unnecessary bonds to this mad world. Give us more light to see the true path. Sing to us that we may hear more clearly your wonderful song. Endow us with a will to face today and tomorrow and not turn aside from this journey to the Promised Land. Bring us laughter. Bring us the unfettered joy of the children – their sounds, their hopes, their dreams. Protect us from the ravages of the evil one.  Place in our steps a lightness, a dance of hope, to carry us through another unfolding of time. We look for you and believe will return. Hear every prayer, especially the prayer we offer together… Pray the Lord's Prayer.  12 02 01

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Dear Lord Jesus, we have trouble opening our hearts to you. We inadvertently place barriers, between your glory and our need. It is hard to see you, to relate to you, to talk to you, because our lives are consumed with so many things that take us away from the sweet silence of the throne. Help us to see you this day. Help us to lay aside the cares that cling so closely to us. May we shake free from the bondage to things and stuff, creations of a secular world. Free us from the false images of a pastiche holiday season. Show us Christmas again. For you are the heart of Christmas. If we only worship you we have done all we need to do for a joyous Christmas. You are all we need.

So call to us again, Dear Lord Jesus. Call us in angel song and shepherd fears. Call to us in the blazing light of a winter star. Call to us in manger light, in the gentle cries of a new born. Call to us in the ancient words--that for us is born a savior, one who rescues us from this false world, from our sins and follies, and from our illusions by which we try to live. Call to us again, Dear Lord Jesus, until we listen, until we hasten to the manger, there kneeling in contrition and great joy. Send us to a world of sadness and sorrow. Send us with faces aglow with hope and peace. Send us renewed and ready for another day, another journey toward the Promised Land of your kingdom.

Dear Lord Jesus, touch our sorrows, heal our hearts, and secure our lives in your grace. Be with the children and all who praise your name this day. We lift our hearts to you, O Day Star from on high, and send our prayers to you in these sweet words… Pray the Lord's Prayer.  12 09 01

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Dear Lord Jesus, you are the everlasting light, the light that shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. We come to a halt in this over-busy season, looking for your light, awaiting your appearing. We stop to see the blooming of the rose in the winter, the little season of rejoicing that invests this winter lent with a joyous color. You are the rose blooming in the snow, the rose that blooms in the waste places. You are the brightness and softness appearing in dark, hard spaces. You are the Christmas rose that opens in this season to tell us of your nearness, your appearing, of the grace just beyond the horizon of Advent. We stop and look; we smile and breathe deeply; we lean toward your appearing, and a rose shall lead us toward the Child.

Dear Lord Jesus, be close to all who need you this day. That is to say, be with all of us all the time. Be our hope beyond failure. Be our laughter after the tears are dry. Be our safety in dangerous days. Be our everlastingness in this swift moving river of moments and days.

Dear Lord Jesus, Comfort the afflicted, give peace to the troubled, and encourage the groups that have lost the vision, touch the hurting with your winter balm. And we will bring our prayers, our gratitude to you -- listening, watching, knowing that you still care for us more than we care for ourselves.

Bring us again to Bethlehem. Bring us again to the manger. We pray in your name strong and secure, and send to your throne the words you taught us…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.  12 17 00

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Dear Lord Jesus, the very movement of the planets brings us to this moment. The annual revolution of earth and sun bring us to this day. The swift flowing river of days and months carries us past the gravel bars, the bends in the river, the daily routines, past each day's joys and sorrows -- and on to this very day. Dear Lord Jesus, most certainly, your gracious will brings us here. By ourselves we would never had made it. We would be lost, stranded on some shore, looking for light, slaves to some empty secularism, to some fierce passion, to drugs or drink or fame -- all servants of your adversary. But your will has brought us here. You came to us and called us and brought us, sometimes resisting, into your presence. Here time, the Great River, stops for a moment. Here the weariness of the journey fades before your gracious gift of life. Here, on this day, time does not drag us down toward the end of days; here it wracks us no more. In your gracious will, Dear Lord Jesus, we find relief from our sins, healing for our wounds, courage to replace our fears. Here we find hope that does not disappear the moment the contract is signed or the transaction completed. Here we find wholeness and peace. Here -- at your Advent -- we find a place unstained by the failures and sins of a life lived in struggle and grief. Dear Lord Jesus, make known to each of us your holy presence. Let us be revived by your Holy Wind, your breath of life. May we be filled with the light dimly reflected in these little lights for which our earthly vision was made, so we may see your Glory in star and manger, in the cross and in the crown. We rejoice in your gracious will and offer words your gave us first…. pray the Lord's Prayer.

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