We gather at your Beautiful Gate and consider our circumstances. You call us by name to enter your sacred prayer space, the inner-sanctuary where we can participate in your mystery. But we respond with hesitation. We do not feel ready. We feel like we need more, to be more prepared, and to be able to demonstrate our worthiness to enter. But you tell us that you have already given us all we need and you call us worthy.
Today, we invite you to reread, rest and reflect on the prayers of the past week.
Lectionary Readings for Today:
Psalm 37:1-9
Isaiah 7:1-9
Matthew 20:29-34
Loving Divine Family,
We enter your sacred prayer space with troubled hearts. We receive alarming or unsettling news each day that causes us to fear. Panic presses us from all sides; the world seems more desolate all the time. Thank you for this space and your patience while we pour out our fears, griefs, and concerns to you. Empty us, LORD, so we may once again feel your peace filling us and hear your promises.
Your sunbeams kiss our cheeks, reminding us that you are with us. You are the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. Only you can fill our gardens and vineyards, fields and granaries. We will follow you alone, from this time forth and for all generations.
Jehovah Jireh, our Provider, all we have is because of you. We come into this world with nothing, and we leave this world with nothing. We fool ourselves thinking our wealth, status, and identity are because of our own work. Thank you, we are your beloved gifts. May we hear the call to return to you to maintain love and justice and to follow you. May we remember that what we have is because of you. May we hold tight to you, instead of our possessions, status, and identity. Your joy is our strength.
We enter your sacred prayer space carrying the guilt of our sins and of past generations. We have been taught to live by the letter of your law. We should surely burn in your furnace like the chaff of harvest. Yet, here we are, invited into your presence and embraced in your loving, strong arms. You choose to not mark our iniquities. We are marked only with your love.
We see creation’s splendour and beauty. You withhold nothing, giving freely to all creation and to us. Give us wisdom to learn creation’s way, to give you praise and honour, and to receive in return the fullness of your love and grace.
We, your people, want to bring you glory and honour. May we pursue righteousness, goodness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Thank you for your generosity that is beyond all measure. May we follow your example and be generous to ourselves, with each other, and to creation.
Today, we invite you to reread, rest and reflect on the prayers of the past week.
Lectionary Readings for Today:
Psalm 146:1-10
Proverbs 28:11-28
Luke 9:43-48
What can we do, LORD, except walk in your grace? What can we do, except live out the gifts and vision you have placed within us? All we are is because of you! All we have is from you! All we have accomplished is by your design! We see your mystery all around and within us, and are amazed.