Pastoral Prayer
Worship 12/09/2007
O Creator, in this hallowed place and in this hallowed time, we give thanks for the gifts of this season, for the gift of life, for the gift of family and friends, for the music of voices singing and children laughing, for the hush of expectant waiting.
Open our ears, so that we may hear the delivery of your "news through the angel Gabriel to the place in our hearts, minds, spirits, and bodies, where something new is born.
Help us attend to the journey of the wise men and wise women in our lives. Turn our eyes to the east where a star shines over a town called Bethlehem where a divine child is to be born.
The darkness of night grows longer, sheltering the seeds of new life within us from the darkness of the powers and principalities that threaten to engulf our lives.
We pray with the power of a still, small voice, for the courage to stand opposite the Herod’s and Pilate’s in our lives and expose their lies, malice, and deceit that ignore the millions of Tiny Tims in this world.
O breath of breath, wear away the hardness of our own hearts as the wind wears away an unmoving rock. Move us to be moved by the wonders and glories in your creation.
Shake us to the foundations of love. In our foundation, Christ Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer
Worship 12/02/2007
Creator and Renewer,
You have created us, you create us.
You have saved us, you save us.
When we most need you,
you send us a new born baby.
When we close the door in your face.
You knock again.
When we refuse to even open our door,
You accept the manger out back.
We reject you.
And, as love and in love, you reject our rejection.
We are jars.
Made in love. Made for love.
Shape us, Fire us, Fill us, Crack us,
So that your Spirit pours out,
And the poor, may have riches
And the rich, may give abundantly
And the sick, may heal
And the healed, give healing
And the oppressed, be free
And the free, free the oppressed.
As we make ready in the here and now,
As shepherds and sheep,
As wise men and wise women,
As divine angels and divinely-made humans,
Let our suffering ease the suffering of others
So that a child can be born unto us.
In the name of all that is wonderful and wise,
We pray these things in the name of the Maker of Peace,
The Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer
Worship 11/11/07
God of Life, God of Love,
We rejoice in the hands and hearts and minds
of those who have gone before us,
of those who you have sent to serve.
Hear us as we say,
Thank you good and faithful servant!
We are thankful that as you gave
you continue to give.
Fill the air with your mystic scent
and draw us to your radiant face.
Set us once again upon the way;
be the path
and the one who beckons.
Tear the veil obscuring our encounter
with all that you are.
Impress hunger for you on our very hearts.
Make our sole desire to more fully resemble you.
As we dine at your table
be the gentle guest of our souls.
Unattach us from mundane cares
and allow us to see
the miraculous in the ordinary,
the Word made flesh.
Pastoral Prayer
Worship 11/04/07
Unnameable One,
we give you thanks that you call us by name.
We give thanks for our traditions
given to us by those who have gone before us
Receive the names which we have read today
as a token of our love for the gifts of our ancestors.
Seat them at your right hand
With them
prepare a path
that makes straight what is crooked
that levels what is steep
so we, who follow after them,
will not stumble
will not fall
will not despair
In the name of the Way of Love, amen.
Pastoral Prayer
Worship 10/28/07
Holy God,
hear us when we call upon you.
Though our voices may be small
in the midst of all that is
you have said that you number us.
In your steadfast love, God,
sit beside us as a friend
listen to the troubles of our hearts
listen to the joys of our lives
listen to the fears of our minds.
Only you, Eternal Presence, are present for us.
Only you have said,
cast your burden upon me
and I will sustain you.
We cast our burdens upon you now, Creator.
Hold them. Hold us.
Care for them. Care for us.
Love them. Love us.
We rejoice and give thanks
for all those who have gone before us;
that a foundation was laid
for our journey through life.
Remind us to step lightly
in the way of those who follow
the Maker of the Way,
Your Son the Christ…
Pastoral Prayer
Worship 10/21/07
All that is good, and whole, and balanced,
hear our prayers
We praise your holy name
and rejoice in the glory of the fall season.
We give thanks that you nourish all things.
As we step back from our chasing and wandering,
greet us with beauty
even in the midst of all that is ugly.
Give us balance and self-control, God,
by breaking us open to pour out your love.
May our clay jars be filled with sweet honey
to share with those who know only bitterness.
Move us to overcome without competing,
answer without speaking a word,
arrive without being summoned,
and serve without thought of self.
Sear our inmost being with Your fire
so we glow with your light and life.
In the name of your radiant Christ…
Pastoral Prayer
Worship 10/14/07
Ever-present and All-Knowing God,
Lord of Light and Life,
accompany us as we move through
the journey of our lives.
Forgive us when we fragment what is whole;
for we are wounded walkers
walking the Way.
Forgive us when we expect the worst;
open us to expect wholeness.
Give our steps a lightness and ease
as we walk the resurrection path.
Refresh our memories
of the lives of those who have gone before us;
so in remembering we rejoice.
Make us eyewitnesses to the majesty of your glory
and not just passers-by.
When we look around to see
if someone else will take the first step,
turn our eyes inward, God, and remind us:
We are the children of God.
The first step is ours to make.
When we seek the spectacular,
show us the ordinary.
When we celebrate,
show us brokenness.
When we rejoice in strength and power,
show us suffering.
When we look only one way,
grant us a new vantage point.
We ask this with the humility of the Crucified Christ.
Pastoral Prayer
Worship 10/07/07
God who prays through us,
who lives and breathes
with our very breath,
we give our thanks for the spirit
which you have breathed into us.
Just as you called all of creation "good"
encourage us to use our faith for that goodness.
And when we fail or fall, God,
pick us up.
If we cause another to fall,
forgive us
as we forgive those who make us fall.
On this Sunday of World Communion,
we pray for all the members of your universal church, that your people may be bound together
by spiritual ties,
and labor together for the coming of your reign.
Walk, Bread of Life, with those who walk today
to end the demons of hunger and famine
that mock your world of abundance.
Turn nothing special into something plentiful.
Turn ignorance to faith.
Turn despair to hope.
Turn enmity to love.
Lean into us as we whisper the words
that only you can appreciate and understand.
With gratitude for your whisper in the wind, God,
amen.
Pastoral Prayer
Worship 9/30/07
Lord of all that was, all that is and all that will be,
Create in our hearts a desire to know only you
by knowing you in all of your creation.
Across the great chasm that we create
between ourselves and you
build a bridge
that draws us into your everlasting care and love.
Lift us up.
Make our souls come alive
with the desire to sweep away
anything that keeps us from you.
Move the darkness in our lives
as you would move mountains.
Grant us the courage to step beyond
what everyone around us calls "The End"
so that we may shout,
"This is only the beginning!"
And when that dawning awareness comes to us, O God,
begin to make us work for love in simple ways.
Accompany us when it’s difficult, God.
Just a touch is all we ask.
Secure our futures
even though we take more comfort in our insecurities.
Ease this strange disjointing that separates us
from all that you are.
In the name of the grace-full Way, amen.
Pastoral Prayer
Worship 9/23/07
God of the stillness,
who meets us in the silence of our lives
Come to us now!
Lift us out of our meagerness,
out of our inadequacies,
out of our smallness.
For we repent of them.
Remove our perspective
that sees everything as provisional,
that sees life from only our eyes.
For we repent of our short-sightedness.
Come to us
so we may see the sweep of many things
as you see everything.
Use our patent willfulness
as your starting point
to move us into a life of grandeur.
God, in this world that treats us roughly
with careless and thoughtless ways,
we ask for some gentleness.
Ease our pain.
Set upon our heads a golden crown,
a sign announcing your holiness
that we are your holy people
set apart.
Make our steps light as we step out
into the gift of this new day.
Quicken our pace
towards the Way of Love
and the Way of Life. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer
Worship 09/16/07
Let us listen.
O God, With a great bang, you gave us your Word,
Creating,
Engaging,
Challenging,
Demanding,
And loving.
We come before you in awe in wonder
that you remain the mystery beyond words.
And we rejoice that you are Immanuel, God-with-us.
Our words can appear so insignificant
compared to the grandeur
of all that is.
Remind us that our words are a part of that "all that is."
Our words can work against your created order
and bring chaos and destruction.
Turn us to the ways of wholeness
where our words can foster
wisdom and wealth for your creation.
Our words can be so noisy,
boastful and self-centered,
that we fail
to simply be aware of your Way.
Forgive us of our hardness of hearing
and the hardness of our hearts.
We give thanks that you listen.
In the name of the Word who became flesh
we give you praise. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer
Worship 09/09/02
Giver of Life and Giver of the Way of Life,
We love you with our whole being
and rejoice in the free shower of your grace.
Forgive us
our foolhardiness
when we invent you in our own image
Make us pause and discover
where we stand
what we stand for
Give us the question:
are we standing in the most likely direction?
On our paths of life
where the "darkness around us is deep"
offer us your steady, light of illumination
Let your love loom
over us,
around us,
in us,
and about us
Grow in us the courage to change
Remove the impulse to coddle
Let your beauty shine on our journey
of following the Way, the Truth, and the Life…
Pastoral Prayer
Worship 08/26/07
God who moves
with the cool breeze of the early morning air
We rejoice in life,
in the struggles and in the celebrations
We give thanks to you for allowing us to be and to worship
Fill us with a new and lush confusion of reverence and joy
"Let joy in finally doing something
settle on us from heaven"
Extend your mercy and radiant peace
Make us dare to trust in your grace
Lead us to a beauty all our own
where colors stand bold and fresh
Gather us in your strong and gentle hand
Precious Lord, take us home,
to a place on the other side of struggle
where we can touch what extends
so far beyond us
Meet us midway
with the daily bread that sustains our bodies
and the cup that enlivens our souls.
We pray this in the name of the Bread of Life…
Pastoral Prayer
Worship 08/19/07
Fountain of all Lights,
Keeper of the Gates,
Hedge-Builder,
We come before you mixing eagerness to be with
a fear of the future
We confess that we have separated ourselves
from You and from Others
through our own misdeeds, our own inattention,
and our own failures to understand completely
May our sins pass unnoticed by Your sight
We rejoice that "you loose us
from both the burden of the law
and from our own lawlessness"
Turn bitter waters to sweet waters
that we may rejoice in the infinite gift of Your grace.
Rip to tatters all the curtains that say,
"We are not welcome!"
Silence the power of the nay-sayers
Give us the courage to say, "YES!"
to love, to life!
Remove the obstructions to the Spirit
so it may flow without fail
We pray for all those named and unnamed
We pray for those murdered by hatred
in your house of worship this past week
Our sadness is deepest when the gifts of life
are torn apart by the forces of chaos
And we know they are not the final answer
You have said, "YES! to new life!
For this we give our thanks for the Christ
who proceeds us into the Promised Land and
prepares a room for us.
Pastoral Prayer
Worship 08/12/07
Master over all that is
Shaper of creation
Holy One, who in compassion, poured yourself out
lean in to us as we express our thanks
lean in to us as we dare to whisper our heart’s desire
We rejoice in the gifts of this moment
for this sanctuary
for the respite from the cares of life
for friends and family
for abundance
You have made us your fortunate ones in the midst of
pain and suffering, sorrow and disease, want and need
able to walk the road to Jericho in peace
Stop us on that same road, You who always walk with us,
if we fail to attend to the Other who bleeds.
Pierce our souls with love
and pour us out for the sake of the unfortunate
Guide us to the heights of paradise
Scatter the mundane in our lives
like chaff blown in the wind
Awaken the pure
in our minds, in our bodies, and in our hearts
Encourage us to leave all pettiness aside
Etch your image on our lives once more
Give us the words to shout your truth
Give us ears to hear your truth
We ask this in the name of the Way of Truth.
Pastoral Prayer
Worship 08/05/2007
Bridge of all creation,
Thank you for spanning yourself across time and space
so we can step out into our lives with joy!
Thank you for the air
which carries your Word into our hearts
and carries the words of others to our ears.
We rejoice that when faced with an unknowingly deep
chasm you provide a Way,
seen or unseen,
around, through, over, or in the midst of.
As we stand on the Bridge of Life, O God,
we stand in horror when bridges collapse;
when something trustworthy gives way.
For those who suffer and for those who died
in Minneapolis this week,
hear us as we share their pain and sorrow.
In the midst of our own daily struggles
build a bridge that takes us out of the past
and into your glorious future.
Enable us to span the unknowable gaps
and the mysteries of our existence;
Remind us to walk lightly on the bridge of our imagination.
And place those unimagined bridges in our minds,
in our hearts, and on our lips,
so that "as it is in heaven"
can be loosed on this earth.
We say this prayer in the name of Christ,
the very One who you sent to create
the bridge between the human and the divine.
Pastoral Prayer
Worship 07/29/2007
Creator of the fabric of Life,
We rejoice in your presence;
How you weave your will in our lives.
We give thanks for the web of friendships
That you wrap around us.
We appreciate this time of worship
Where we come into your presence
Holding the thread of life
Which is your gift to us!
Hear our confession, O God,
We let our threads come unraveled;
We twist and cut the threads of others;
We pridefully believe our thread is the only
Thread in the tapestry of life.
Pardon us our shortcomings.
Forgive our stepping on toes.
Excuse the inexcusable in our lives.
Throw your Word upon the golden idols we create.
Open us to your abundant grace!
We humbly ask, Giver,
Release us from the cords of bondage.
Unbind the fascination that we give to our demons.
Loose our tongues to speak your Word!
Loose our tongues to share your Truth!
Loose our tongues to serve in Love!
Create a passage of deliverance, O Deliverer,
That leads us through the open door of love
Into the open arms of Christ. Amen.
