Author: Jeff

God, your scripture teaches us that someone who hears your words and then fails to put them into practice is like a person who looks at their face in a mirror but turns away and forgets what they look like. And as we listen to your words we are convicted because that is who we are. We pick and choose among your words like people at a cafeteria buffet, thinking we can have what we want and avoid the things we find unpalatable. But your teaching do not allow us that luxury, and so we repent, and ask that you help us begin to take you seriously.

We are grateful that you offer us
grace, though we don’t deserve it,
hope, though we often ignore it,
peace, though we often refuse it.

You shower blessings on us even when we don’t acknowledge you, and in humility we say thank you.

Teach us to remember who we are.
Teach us to remember who you have made us to be.
Teach us to trust in your promises.
Teach us to believe in you.

And as we meditate on these holy mysteries, may we imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise.

In the holy name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Holy God, you are the maker and sustainer of all things. You teach us to be good stewards of your generosity, but we confess that we have been dishonest managers of your blessings. You teach us to love our neighbor as ourselves, but most of us are so isolated that we don’t know our neighbor’s name. You teach us that if ew are dishonest in small things, we will be dishonest in greater things, yet we treat your words as if only the big things really matter. We have heard your high and holy standards, and then lowered the bar so low that we can hardly even trip over it. We repent, and know that our only hope is for you to treat us with mercy and favor that we do not in any way deserve.

We are grateful for your patience with us.
We are grateful that you have blessed us in spite of our faithlessness.
We are grateful that you continue to work through us in spite of our selfishness.

We ask, O God, that you change our ways:
Open our minds to understand your purpose in the world around us.
Open our hearts to the hurting world around us.
Open our ears to the cry of the oppressed.
Open our eyes to see the path you would have us walk.
Open our lives that we may fallow you, no matter where you lead.

We place our lives and our futures in your mighty hands. We confess and praise and plead with you in the holy name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who reigns with you and the Holy Spirit forever and ever.

Amen.

Your words bring us comfort, but they also bring us concern, because we know we stand before you guilty, in dirty rags, trying to hide our shame. We thank you that you don’t judge us based on what we do or what we know, but that you treat us with grace, inviting us to your holy feast, blind, crippled, and por alike.

Forgive us when we are consumed with our own image instead of embracing yours.
Forgive us when we treat other people as being somehow less than we are,
even though they too are created in your image.
Forgive us for thinking we have all the answers,
instead of trusting your limitless justice.

We ask for more faith – faith to believe your promises, though sometimes they seem far away.
We ask for more grace, that grace might flow from us
We ask for more love, that we could understand you more.

We ask, as you did, Jesus,
that this new day and new way of life would come,
and come soon –
that your will be done here,
just as it is in Heaven.

And it is in your name,
the name above all names,
that we offer this prayer.

Amen.

Father above,
you offer us so much, and yet we take from you so little. You promise abundant life and yet we are content with the scraps we can scavenge instead of feasting at your banquet table.

We confess to you that your promise to make all things new frightens us, because we do fairly well the way things are, and we are afraid of what we might lose. We worry sometimes about what it might mean to “become like Jesus”, and frankly there are times when we wish you hadn’t told us to follow in his footsteps. We reluctantly admit that we don’t always like where he leads us.

Even though we tend to like the world as it is, we ask for faith to believe the Good News of your Kingdom. We ask for eyes to see what we must change, and for strength to carry it out. We know that without you we have no hope, either in this life or the life to come.

And so we place our lives in your hands, honestly afraid of where you may take us, but hopeful and expectant to see your hand move.

In the holy name of Jesus we pray.
Amen.