Prayer of Grief

Photo by Tony Fischer Photography

Suffering Servant who walks among us

Wonderful is your name.

Spread your eternal balm of love

For the grief

That so many are absent.

Let us beat swords into plowshares

In obedience to the love

That flows from the devotion binding

Creator, Word, and Comforter 

Into One.

Care for those we cannot touch,

And share your bounty with them

And with us.

Blood drips from our hands, 

Blood of the guilty

Mingled with

Blood of the innocent.

Forgive us

As we forgive those who shed our blood

So that there may be peace.

Deafen our ears to the trumpet call of power.

Quench our thirst for revenge

So that we may be close to you.

For yours is the embrace,

 The solace, and the love.

That endures forever.

The First Sunday of Lent

Photo by Chalky Live

Jesus,

Who spent forty days in the desert,

Praise to you God in action.

Out of the wilderness
You brought your new covenant.

One we must honor and fulfill.

Lacking food for the body,
You were tested and triumphed.

Give us a portion of your courage this day.

In Jerusalem, 
You were tortured and killed.

Forgive us when our actions recall your anguish.

Help us forgive those we love who torture our souls.

Give us some small portion of the inner strength
You took into the desert,

So that we can resist the lure of wickedness and evil.

You create our existence

And bind us with love

Now and through eternity.
Amen.

Springtime Prayer

Pink Dogwood Blossoms by Lee Coursey

Joy of Springtime
Who reigns above all,

Blessed are the ways we know you.

May your grace abound,

May the  blossoms of creation

Fill the air with the sweet perfume of life.

Let love reign over all in this world

As it does where you dwell.

Feed us from the bounty of this earth.

Where weeds have been sown,

Let there be flowers.

Help us sow fruits

 That others may harvest.

Protect us from the hail of evil

That comes with the storms  of life.

Walk with us down the garden path

To the bounty of your love.

For you in all seasons

Provide endless lovingkindness.

Prayer for Understanding

Our Comforter who walks with us,

Thank you for your presence.

Let the love of God spread

Everywhere on this terrestrial ball
Just as love binds Creator and Word
To pervade heaven.

Give us knowledge and hope

To carry us through each day.

Forgive our frailties

And let us understand the frailties of others

So that we may forgive.

Let us understand why

We encounter trials that tear our souls

So that we may surmount them.

Protect us from ourselves.

For you are love incarnate

And the underpinning of existence.

Photo by linh.ngan

Prayer for 2010

Daddy, who lives beyond our senses,
Your name makes us shiver
In happiness and awe.
Make 2010 the completion of time.
Let us know and do your will
As those that have joined you
Know and do.
Forgive our missteps and stumbles
As we forgive those
That stand in our way.
Keep the candy of life out of sight,
Carry us over the obstacles
That would make us fall.
For you are time and space
And love eternal.
Make this year ahead one where
We know that you hold us close
And wrap us in your love.

Photo by Mel B.

Rejoice in Meanness

A message came today.
This missive rejoiced that
The number of Muslims
That worshiped on September 25
Was less than the number hoped for.
Grief overwhelmed my soul
When the sender took credit
For this result.
She proclaimed control of God
Although she did not know it.
Because she thought her prayer answered
She took credit for harm
To those in worship.
Prayer is a mystery.
Jesus told us to pray
And gave us a model.
He told us to pray in private
Yet churches pray in mass.
I believe God wants us to focus on Him.
Prayer is a way to do so.
God is a father
Who wants to hear his children babble.
God is love
Not magic.

Photo by jaxxon

Prayer for Civility

God, who reigns in eternity,
Praise your everlasting patience.
When we in person bow before you,
Accept us, please.
Give us the temperament to receive your bounty
And acknowledge that it comes from you.
Let us treat others with civility,
So that you will treat us well.
Teach us the etiquette of belief,
So that we are examples to others.
Rudeness is the gift of Satan,
Stay our souls from accepting that gift,
For you care how we treat our fellows.
Politeness is the child of your lovingkindness.
You are love in all its glory.
Your grace is there for all.
Forever.

Photo by derek7272

Prayer for Survival

My Creator, beginning of all.
I revere You in all Your splendor.
Eternity looms and stretches into imagination.
You under gird existence.
Nothing stands apart from You.
Provide sustenance to our spirits
And protect us from ourselves.
Lift the judgment of nothingness
As we recognize our brethren are everywhere.
Guide our path with Your wisdom.
Protect us through the Comforter.
For You are Life for the ages.
And the infusion of spirit in all.

Photo by diongillard

Prayer for Health

Great Physician, who fills Paradise,
Praise Your Presence.
Let Your Essence fill us all.
Let Your mercy reach earth,
As it does all parts of Paradise.
Heal us this day.
Reprieve us from the ills we deserve for sin,
As we reprieve those who make us suffer.
Do not let us find the sickness of the soul
That we are so prone to do.
Minister to our wounds
And repair our souls as well as our bodies.
For you are the Great Physician,
The Healer of all,
The Doctor of Souls,
With all the skill of infinity
And no limits.

Photo by mckaysavage

Maternal Prayer

Mommy, Mommy!

Mother of the universe,
Into whose lap we wish to climb,
Praise your kind presence and love.
May your grace envelop the world
So that all will heed you
Just as your cherubs do.
Provide wholesome food each day
To nourish our bodies,
So we may seek you to nourish our souls.
Do not spank us when we stray.
Let us remember your forbearance
When others choose to stray
And make us stumble.
Take us by the hand,
Lift us away from danger.
Rock us in your arms
Because you are love, comfort, and nurture,
Eternity's Mother,
Forever God,
Amen.

Photo by David Paul Ohmer

A Prayer for Hope

Our Comforter, who surrounds us,
Praise for your existence,
Praise for your solace.
Let your presence be known to all.
Sustain us as the saints were sustained.
Give us hope.
Forgive our lack of faith.
Help us to forgive the shortcomings of others.
Do not burden us beyond endurance.
Deliver us from despair.
For you can give joy
And strength and everlasting life.
Amen

Photo by Jan Tik

Before We Ask

Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him."

Jesus spoke these words
Just before he gives his model prayer.
There is comfort in these words.
Comfort because if God bothers to know
Then God must care.
Today, I need to know that God cares.
Today, I need to feel God's presence.
Today, I need to believe God answers prayer.
Today, I need to keep my faith alive.
Today, I need to accept my life.
Only God can fulfill my needs
And make me whole.
Let it be so.

Photo by ButterflySha