There is a new day coming…

There is a new day coming, says the Lord. A day when I will make a new covenant with my people. I will put my insturctions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors or their relatives saying “You should know the Lord!” Everyone, from the least to the greatest, will already know me. And I will forgive their wickedness, and remember their sin no more.

May the unending and unfailing Love of God recklessly pursue you all the days of your life,
that you may dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

May you be consumed by the love of Christ

May you be consumed by the love of Christ:
infinite, unchanging,
full of transforming power,
sustaining life,
giving grace to both the righteous and wicked.

And may you embrace the Holiness of God
believing His promises of peace and joy
placing your hope fully
in the one who demands all
but gives all
rewarding those who earnestly seek Him.

Your words bring us comfort, but they also bring us concern

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.

May you humble yourself before the Almighty God

May you humble yourself before the Almighty God,
listening to his voice,
accepting his counsel,
seeking his ways.

May you wait patiently on the Lord,
trusting his promises of
justice,
mercy,
peace.

And may your identity be found in Christ
and Christ alone:
Redeemer,
Savior,
Creator,
Glorious King.

And yet we take from you so little

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.

Grateful that you are a God of New Beginnings

Holy God,
we come before you grateful that you are a God of new beginnings, a God who promises to make all things new. We confess that too often we have become comfortable with the way things are, and not interested in the new heaven and new earth you promise. We admit that even more often we resist your coming Kingdom because we know it means we will have to give up idols in which we place far too much trust, and we are afraid of what that might mean.

We ask that you transform our hearts to see the world around us through your eyes. There are times when we’re not really sure we want that, but we believe in order to know you and participate in your promises we must also become new. Make us people who see wrong and try to right it; who see suffering and try to heal it; who see conflict and try to end it. We confess that this prayer and this way of life frightens us, and that without your grace we will surely fail.

So we ask for your grace –
grace given generously, that we might know you and do your will;
grace that we might abide in your present and eternal Kingdom,
where there is no death,
neither sorrow nor pride,
but the fullness of joy with all your saints.

Through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

May the peace of the Lord be with you

May the peace of the Lord be with you
sent as an apostle
of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Bless the people you meet.
Strengthen the communities you join.
Challenge those around you to lead a Godly life.

And may you never stop growing
each day a new adventure
each moment united with Christ
a new creation
made and remade
into the image of a perfect God.

May you hear the commands of the Lord

May you hear the commands of the Lord –
signposts to guide you on life’s uncertain journey.

May you fear the Lord-
the beginning of wisdom,
the origin of understanding.

And may you live your life liberated –
resting in God’s sovereign power,
protected and completed
by the one who gives meaning to all things.

May you await the day when all things are made new

May you discover the call of the living God,
the God of your fathers,
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

As you follow in his footsteps, may you accept the mysteries of Christ,
certain in the embrace of his unfailing love.

And may you live the vision of God,
his partner in the transforming work of redemption,
eagerly awaiting the glorious day
when all things are made new.