Season 14 Prayers
Embedded Files
Nexus, we’ve had a decade at the Conrad Centre. Let’s take time to reflect, holding all our thoughts and feelings gently and with love.
See if you can sense how God holds them tenderly along with us.
LOOKING BACK - Reflecting upon the gifts of the season at the Conrad Centre. Make room for any grief you notice - inherent with any change.
What have you learned about yourself, God or others? What have you learned about church and community?
What have you enjoyed and experienced here that is unique to the Conrad Centre? (What can we do here that we cannot do elsewhere?)
Consider how you can share your grief and gratitude for these experiences (to God, with others).
LOOKING FORWARD - Considering the possibilities of the future at St. Andrew’s.
What is it about Nexus that will travel with us? (What have we done here that we can also do elsewhere?)
What will you personally take with you as you move to this next chapter?
What might we want to share with the St. Andrew’s community?
What gifts might we receive from them?
Blessing for Sunday, June 23, 2024
by Karla Drader
God, here we are at an ending.
And facing the space between the ending and our new beginning.
We look back, remembering with gratitude, the times we have shared together in this space.
Sermons, songs, prayers, laughter, tears, questions and wonderings, sharing life together.
Soup Sundays, art exhibitions, children’s songs…
Thank you.
Thank you for what this space has facilitated and allowed us to do and to be. We are glad to be here together now to remember and to anticipate.
As we look ahead, we realize there are many things we can bring with us.
We have been changed. We have grown.
We trust you will go with us, and we look to you, God of Love, to guide us as we go in peace.
We go in peace!
Blessing for Sunday, June 16, 2024
for the gift of doubt — Kate Bowler
Led by Matt Moser
Photo by Sergey Nivens
I long for understanding, but life is full of unanswered questions.
Oh God, reveal to me what I need to know now,
and as for the rest...
teach me how to live with so much uncertainty.
Blessed are we who come to you in the discomfort of our doubt,
for we trust that our honest unknowing is a truer and better prayer
than bootstrapping efforts at certainty.
Blessed are we, receiving the gift of doubt,
for we trust that it is a doorway, freeing us to become
all that we could not otherwise have known.
Blessed are we, remembering that you hold all things together.
You are the invisible scaffolding that supports us,
the canopy of love that covers us in the present,
the stable pillars, sunk deep into our past,
and the sparrow that flies confidently toward the future
bearing for us the peace we could never have attained for ourselves.
Blessed are we, settling into the truth that there are things that we can't know,
settling into the humility that knows this one thing:
that we are of the earth, while you bear up the universe.
Prayer for Sunday, June 9, 2024
Release Me from the Dark Fury by Ted Loder
Photo by donfiore from Getty Images
O Holy and Haunting Presence
whose spirit moves quietly but surely
in the sound and fury of the world
and of my life,
You know me
as rushing water knows the rock
and releases its beauty
to reflect new light.
Open me
to the insistent abrasiveness
of your grace,
for I often trivialize love
by abandoning the struggles
which accompany its joys
and rejecting the changes
which lead to its fulfillments.
Release me
from the dark fury
of assuming I am unloved
when the day calls for sacrifice
and the night for courage.
Release me
from the ominous fear
of thinking some sin or failure of mine
can separate me from you
when life demands hard choices,
and the battle, high risks.
Release me
from the dangerous illusions
of independence
when the human family summons me
to the realities and promises
of interdependence
among races, sexes, nations.
Release me
from being possessed
by riches I do not need
and grievances that weary me
when you call me to share
my very self with neighbors
and to reflect for the world
the light of the kingdom within me.
Prayer for Sunday, June 2, 2024
Blessing for Relationships by Karla Drader
Photo by irinaevva
May we understand and own the strength we possess,
and have the courage to go where we need to go in relationships
- to love with compassion, to protect ourselves and one another,
and to build relationships that are life-giving,
to build a self that is strong enough to pour out.
May we stop betraying ourselves, stop hiding or dimming ourselves.
May we show up as our true, grounded selves in our relationships,
even when it’s not easy,
even when we doubt ourselves,
and even if people don’t like it.
May we stay the course
and allow God’s good growth to happen
in us and between us.
Prayer for Into the Looking Glass: Relational Reflections
Sunday, May 26, 2024
Collaboratively written by the people of Nexus
Dear Mom, Dear Dad,
I hope for you to have peace in your heart, and grace towards your kids and grandkids as you accept that the world in which we’re raising our children is different from the one in which you raised us.
May you know you can be ok even when your children aren’t…because you are a whole, separate person.
Your kids are humans and humans are going to struggle, even if you had done everything right.
My struggles might not even be your fault, but either way, you are not responsible for my choices now.
May you be free to celebrate our success rather than seeing it as competition.
Shouldn’t your children surpass you, at least in some ways? Could you allow that to bring you satisfaction and joy? Awe, even? That’s my kid. That’s my girl! That’s my son! Look at them go!
May you learn to listen well - to yourself and your needs… and to us. You don’t always have to teach, correct, convert.
You push people away with your need to see us follow the same rules you've internalized.
What if you just…listened? What if you didn’t centre yourself?
What if you didn’t jump to judge and to fix us, and just enjoyed us instead? Just brought non-anxious attention?
You don't always have to be on edge. We enjoy you so much when you can relax. When there can be give and take.
May you come to see that everyone has their own journey, their own path, and invitations. Being argumentative and holding everyone in judgment makes you and your faith so unappealing. Your theology of “hate the sin, love the sinner”, is not love. I’m thankful that you introduced me to God and to Jesus, but in many ways, you make it hard to hold onto faith. Sometimes it feels that I am still a Christian, not because of you, but in spite of you.
I hope you come to know Jesus in a way that transforms you and brings you into more love and connection, not less.
Because not everything has to be a fight. And on the other hand, it doesn’t have to be “peace at all costs”.
Sometimes that peace is far too costly. And it isn’t true peace, a lot of the time. Your passive aggressiveness can be manipulative and puts distance between us. Your gestures of love only make me feel guilty, not loved.
So may you come to know love. May you know that you are worthy of love.
May you move, however slowly, toward emotional healing and wholeness.
I hope you will find people and resources to support that journey which can include professionals.
You can seek out experts to help with problems, whether it’s electrical or plumbing related - or your inner life.
May your fear soften and melt as you experience freedom and the joy of openness to new perspectives and ideas.
May newness break in even now, bringing you joy and peace. May you experience freedom and ease in your body, heart, and mind. May you turn towards yourself with gentleness and softness.
And may you know I’m grateful. You’ve given us so much, given your best. I’m working through all my feelings around that, around the abundance and places where it feels like it wasn’t enough, and I’m finding ways to meet those needs. May you also continue your journey, knowing we are all held in the hands that brought the world into being.
Amen.
Prayer for Pentecost Sunday, May 19, 2024
Blessing for Pentecost by Joyce Rupp
Photo by fsHH from pixabay
May the enthusiasm of Spirit leap incessantly
within you and help you to live a vibrant life.
May the warmth of Spirit's fire be extended
through your concern and care for all those who need your love.
May the blaze of Spirit's courage enable you
to speak the truth and to stand up for respect, dignity, and justice.
May the undying embers of Spirit's faithfulness support you
when you feel spiritually dry and empty.
May the strength of Spirit's love sustain your hope
as you enter into the pain of our world.
May the clear light of Spirit's guidance be a source
of effective discernment and decision-making for you.
May Spirit's patient endurance be yours
while you wait for what is unknown to be revealed.
May the steady flame of Spirit's goodness within you convince you
every day of the power of your presence with others.
May the joyful fire of Spirit dance within you
and set happiness ablaze in your life.
May the spark of your relationship with Spirit catch afire
in the hearts of those with whom you live and work.
May you be mindful of the Eternal Flame within you.
May you rely on this Source of Love
to be your constant ally and steady guide.
Prayer for Ascension Sunday, May 12, 2024
Blessing the Distance by Jan Richardson
While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. —LUKE 24:51
Photo by farosofa from Getty Images
It is a mystery to me how as the distance between us grows,
the larger this blessing becomes,
as if the shape of it depends on absence,
as if it finds its form not by what it can cling to,
but by the space that arcs between us.
As this blessing makes its way,
first it will cease to measure itself by time.
Then it will release how attached it has become
to this place where we have lived,
where we have learned to know one another
in proximity and presence.
Next this blessing will abandon the patterns in which it moved,
the habits that helped it recognize itself,
the familiar pathways it traced.
Finally this blessing will touch its fingers
to your brow, your eyes, your mouth;
it will hold your beloved face in both its hands,
and then it will let you go;
it will loose you into your life;
it will leave each hindering thing
until all that breathes between us is blessing
and all that beats between us is grace.
Prayer for April 28, 2024
A Pantoum by Nexus Youth
Photo by Allie Smith from Pexels
Wanting to be noticed, to feel warm, safe, and happy
in lilac and lavender,
I’m feeling stressed and envious, unhappy with how I’m being treated.
Then I hear God say, “You are my child”
And I feel empowered, brave, courageous and strong.
Stressed and envious, unhappy with how I’m being treated,
I remember there’s God-glitter in everyone
And I feel empowered, brave, courageous and strong.
Hopeful, I love and forgive.
Remembering there’s God-glitter in everyone,
I hear God say, “You are my child”.
Feeling hopeful, I love and forgive.
I snuggle into lilac and lavender, noticed, warm, safe, and happy.
Prayer for April 28, 2024
Written by Karla Drader based on Colossians 3:10-17
Christ, alive in all of us, renew us as we learn
to know our Creator and become like you.
Clothe us with your mercy as we seek to understand others.
Help us show your kindness and compassion to everyone,
with gentleness, humility and patience.
Help us be even-tempered,
and quick to extend forgiveness to others,
as we remember how we have been forgiven.
May we choose to let your peace rule in our hearts.
May Your Love combine with joy and gratitude,
and flow through all you do in us,
growing us up in You.
Amen.
Prayer for April 21, 2024
Written and led by Karla Drader
See which, if any, of the following photos draw you.
It may serve as a helpful image for you as you journey with your boundaries.
God, empower and resource us to grow in active compassion in our relationships.
Help us choose when and how to pour out our lives for others.
Help us move towards loving others sacrificially.
God, it is so interesting that so many things you have created for good can be twisted beyond recognition...love, marriage, and sex just to name a few. While we treasure the free will you have given us (because we are made in your image) we have turned it into mine-fields that we continue to step on to our peril. And while many treat these aspects of life as just another thing to be observed, so many seem to know that there is so much more here. So much more, that will help us flourish if we can just get a handle on it.
God, help us to reach below the surface and bring to the top the great truths and understandings that lay waiting to be discovered by those who want to reenchant them – who want to plumb the depths of Your truths.
Help us to acknowledge the built-in truths of your created order and use them to the benefit of ourselves, our family, our friends, our community.
Help us to climb the ladder. Help us to re-enchant our relationships.
Amen
Prayer for April 7, 2024
Contemplative Breath Prayer led by Karla Drader
Photo by Silvia Jansen from Getty Images
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.
1 John 4:7
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. John 15:9
The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. Eden Ahbez
Let’s practice using our breath to receive God’s Love, and to release it back into the world. You can even get your hands involved...holding your open palms up and flipping them over…
On the breath in, in your mind, try saying, "I receive Your Love. Or..."Yes to Love."
On the breath out, you can say something like, "I show Your Love." Or "I share love."
As you do this, you may find specific people come to your mind...you may find one of the directions more challenging than the other.
Be curious about what you notice and see what happens as you welcome it too, with love.
Breathing in: I receive Love. Breathing out: I share Love.
You can stay with this rhythm of receiving and releasing as long as you like.
God of love, help us notice moments when we can receive and share love in all the contexts of our lives. Amen.
Prayers for Easter Day, March 31, 2024
by Jan Richardson
Led by Karla Drader
Photo by Jacob Aguilar-Friend on Unsplash
“He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said.” - Matt 28:6
Jesus said to her, “Mary!” — Jn 20:16
You hardly imagined standing here,
everything you ever loved
suddenly returned to you,
looking you in the eye
and calling your name.
And now you do not know how
to abide this hole
in the center of your chest,
where a door slams shut
and swings open at the same time,
turning on the hinge
of your aching and hopeful heart.
See how the blessing circles back again,
wanting you to repeat it, but louder,
how it draws you, pulls you,
sends you to proclaim its only word:
Risen. Risen. Risen.
If it is a blessing you seek,
open your own mouth.
Fill your lungs
with the air
this new morning brings
and then
release it with a cry.
Hear how the blessing
breaks forth
in your own voice,
how your own lips form
every word
you never dreamed to say.
Let this blessing
gather itself around you.
Let it give you
what you will need for this journey.
You will not remember the words—
they do not matter.
All you need to remember
is how it sounded
when you stood in the place of death
and heard the living call your name.
Author Kat Armas reflects on the spiritual practice of lingering in the tension between winter and spring, the cross and resurrection: You know those last few weeks before spring, when winter is trying desperately to hold on...the trees towering above your head might still be bare, but when you look down, buds of purple are sprinkled across the ground, bursting forth from earth’s womb…. If we pay close attention, we might notice the earth constantly beckoning us to receive this gift. On bended knees with cool breath and a warm touch, the natural world asks us to stay in this moment. Right here. A little longer. Do you feel it?
The life and death of Jesus offers an invitation to sit in a sacred tension, but many are not comfortable doing this. We are a people hell-bent on fix-its, uncomfortable with struggle or with sadness. Perhaps this is why, for many of us, Holy Saturday has long been ignored. This is the day between the death of Christ on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.
In the immigrant Catholic church I attended with abuela [grandma] growing up, this holy day of waiting was as important as Easter Sunday because it mirrored our reality—the constant push and pull between sorrow and joy, death and resurrection. On this day, we lit velas (candles) and sat in front of the altar for what felt like years. We knew joy would come, but there was no rush. The holy tension was a space in which we felt most alive.
I didn’t know it back then, but la Espíritu Santa [Holy Spirit] was forming something sacred in me.
Armas invites us to consider:
What moments of sacred tension stand out in your life? What did they speak to you about your humanity?
Prayer for March 24, 2024
by Karla Drader and a portion from Saint Patrick's Breastplate
Led by Karla Drader
Photo by Colleen Bradley, Getty Images
What shall we leave God? And what shall we keep?
We leave behind everything in our minds that is not for keeping,
And we invite you in, Mind of Christ.
We leave behind everything in our hearts that is not for keeping,
And we invite you in, Heart of Christ.
We leave behind everything in our spirits that is not for keeping,
And we invite you in, Spirit of Christ.
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of everyone
who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone
who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
We arise and go today
In the strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One,
and One in Three
- from Saint Patrick’s Breastplate
God of our honest prayers and more honest silences,
We come to you with our whole selves.
Open our eyes, our ears, our hearts
So we can know how You are already here with us.
May we laugh harder because we have learned
To let ourselves weep with you.
May we see and know and name Beauty
Because we have learned to bring the ugliness to you.
Surprise us and startle us.
We're open to all the weird ways you want to speak—
In us, and to us and through us.
May we be Peacemakers, Joy-bringers, Truth-tellers,
Status-Quo-Disrupters, Wanderers, Wonderers,
and Misfits to our Time
Who never settle for the sit-down-and-shut-up life
But rise up in Your They-who-the-Son-sets-free-are-free-indeed birthright of freedom.
May we come close to you
Because of our vulnerability
Not because of our false certainties;
Teach us to lay down our masks and pretences.
Give us opportunities to practice mercy and courage
(This may backfire but we're feeling bold now.)
Call us to humility, confession, and repentance.
Don't let us get away with divorcing our prayers
From our politics and policies and practices.
May we love our neighbors.
Teach us to pray, God,
As you have always welcomed us to pray:
Fully human, fully yours, fully held, and fully loved.
We will tell you the truth of our lives, and of this world.
And we will listen to the truth you speak back to us
The truth of our belovedness,
Of your justice,
Of your faithfulness,
Of love.
And say let it be so,
Let it be in me.
Amen.
So may we know
the hope
that is not just
for someday
but for this day—
here, now,
in this moment
that opens to us:
hope not made
of wishes
but of substance,
hope made of sinew
and muscle
and bone,
hope that has breath
and a beating heart,
hope that will not
keep quiet
and be polite,
hope that knows
how to holler
when it is called for,
hope that knows
how to sing
when there seems little cause,
hope that raises us
from the dead—
not someday,
but this day,
every day,
again and
again and
again.
---
Receive this blessing
— that knows
how you have been
formed and knit together
in wonder
and in love.
You who are
temple, sanctuary,
home for God in this world.
Prayer for March 10, 2024
BLESSING OF HOPE written by Jan Richardson
Led by Karen Woroch
Photo by Shane Rounce on Unsplash
Prayer for Good Friday, March 29, 2024
Prayer from The Work of the People
Led by Eliza Mills
Image from The Work of the People
Benediction of The Cross
May the cross,
a symbol of both suffering and transformation, be a guide in your journey towards the depths of self-discovery.
In the shadow of the cross,
may you discover the courage to face the complexities of your own Being, embracing the paradoxes that make you uniquely human.
May the wounds of the cross
become windows through which the light of understanding streams into the depths of your soul,
revealing the sacred interconnectedness of your experiences.
As the power and mystery of the cross
intersects with the wisdom that is being revealed to you, may you navigate the tensions of doubt and faith,
finding in your struggles the raw material for a resilient and authentic spirituality. May you recognize the transformative power inherent in embracing the depth of your own suffering, allowing it to become a source of hope and renewal.
May the benediction of the cross
be a reminder that even in the darkest moments, there is the potential for resurrection—
a rebirth into a more compassionate, and integrated self.
May you carry the wisdom of the cross
with you on your journey, allowing it to illuminate your path and infuse your existence with meaning and purpose.
Amen
Prayer for Mar 3, 2024
From "Liturgy of Longing"
by REV. SANDRA MARIA VAN OPSTAL
Led by Karla Drader
How long, Lord?
Sometimes it is hard to believe that you actually care
about the injustice and suffering.
When we don’t see your work.
When we feel small and forget
that we were designed to be different
and make things different.
When we feel overwhelmed
By darkness in the world
—the violence, injustice, poverty, oppression, abuse.
Give us hope not to be overcome.
Give us eyes to see
your goodness for our world.
Give us the strength
to hold the pain of injustice in our world
and faith that it will end.
Give us courage to be honest with ourselves
about why and how we are doing justice.
Empower us to disrupt our broken thinking
by learning truth from diverse leaders.
Enable us to discover the beauty of justice
and inspire action in others.
Embolden us
to display your goodness in the world.
Help us act in creativity to rebuild a just world.
We confess our complicity in evil systems,
our apathy towards pain
Our inability to forgive
just as Christ has forgiven us.
Jesus, you were born as a refugee
into a tiny ethnic minority,
oppressed and persecuted to death by the empire,
and yet never fighting back in the form of empire
but embodying self-sacrificing resistance.
Jesus, you came
to proclaim good news to the poor
by proclaiming freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind.
You came not only proclaiming freedom
but freeing the oppressed.
We know that we can be agents of justice
but only you can liberate.
Only you can bring healing.
Only your power can stand against the darkness.
Call us, repairer of broken walls
and restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
Help us to live justly, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with you, God.
Empower us to let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
God, you never stop chasing us
Where pain is piercing us through
Into communion,
Into joy.
Shepherd,
Lead us into the circle of courage
Where we surrender to You,
To Love
Who finds us in our sin
Who seeks us in our pain
Who weeps for all the wrong
That has smeared mud over our name
Children of God
Do not have to live
Pressed under the weight
Of someone else’s wishes,
Pierced by the pen
Of someone else’s words,
Inked with the list
Of someone else's needs,
Crumpled in the trash
When they are done using us.
We are not disposable.
Love, may we allow you to unfold us.
May we allow you to rewrite us.
The only words
That belong on the pages of our life
Tell a story of courage,
Written with Christ.
Shepherd,
Lead us into the circle of courage
Freed by Your own scars
May our wounds
Become the welcome
For those who are still chained.
Blessing the Dust
Ash Wednesday and Ashes Sunday Feb 18, 2024
Written by Jan Richardson
Image: Blessing the Dust by Jan Richardson
All those days
you felt like dust,
like dirt,
as if all you had to do
was turn your face
toward the wind
and be scattered
to the four corners
or swept away
by the smallest breath
as insubstantial—
did you not know
what the Holy One
can do with dust?
This is the day
we freely say
we are scorched.
This is the hour
we are marked
by what has made it
through the burning.
This is the moment
we ask for the blessing
that lives within
the ancient ashes,
that makes its home
inside
the soil of
this sacred earth.
So let us be marked
not for sorrow.
And let us be marked
not for shame.
Let us be marked
not for false humility
or for thinking
we are less
than we are
but for claiming
what God can do
within the dust,
within the dirt,
within the stuff
of which the world
is made
and the stars that blaze
in our bones
and the galaxies that spiral inside the smudge
we bear.
Prayer for Feb 11, 2024
Written and led by Chris Woroch
Photo by Karla Drader
Lately we have received an abundance of sunshine, which we have enjoyed and we say, "Thank You, God". Thank you for the increase in light, which gives clarity and hope.
Light... that which brings clarity to see clearly.
Light... that comes from new eyes, which have encountered the true Light, perhaps resulting in repentance and transformation.
Clarity... to see within and without.
Clarity... to see at and through, both at the same time.
Clarity... to see anew that which we have never seen before.
Hope... that while this life is a wonderful gift, it is also a prelude, a warm up, for a Life that is beyond description, but oh so good...And yet, in some measure this future life can be entered into and lived
Right Now!
We have found refuge and safety in this place, this morning.
We have listened to music. We have heard Brad's words to us.We have heard the words of Scripture for us.
We have shared in conversation with friends and fellow travellers on the Jesus Path.
And it has all been meaningful and good. Thank you, God.
Having been here today, may your Spirit weave within our minds and hearts, bringing us Light, Clarity and Hope.
Because of Jesus.
We believe...
...every human being has a worth worth seeing
Every name
Is a sound worth saying
Your potential
A prayer worth praying
You see coal - God sees diamonds
We believe in the grace
Of the gifts God gives
God’s breath in everything that lives
Greater gifts to be discovered
Deep in you
Disguised, dust-covered
You see coal - God sees diamonds
We see God seeking
A servant generation
Kindness as the kindling
To kick-start transformation
Love as liberation
Of a captive creation
We're digging for the diamonds God sees
We drink the cup, acknowledging we live in a world filled with pain and grief, with beauty and joy. We are alive with your life, breathing your breath. We share in it together. Who we are and what we do affects one another and the earth with all creation.
We drink the cup, acknowledging that we live with wounds yet to be healed. May we look upon our own selves with love, with a belief that we, too, need tending and care. Do not let us run from what we need to face. Give us the courage to let go of whatever keeps us from being healed. Help us to trust you with our lives, God.
We drink the cup, acknowledging scars that tell of the tough times and the healing we have already experienced. Our wounds can be our teachers. God of wisdom, draw us to reflection so we can see and accept the truths that our wounded times offer us.
We drink the cup, joining with others who hurt and ache. As we do so, keep us closely united with you, Healing Presence, so our hearts will always be warm with compassion.
As we drink the cup, remind us that we are all a part of the Body of Christ. When we meet another, we meet you. May community energize us and renew us as we reach out to others. May we pour out our lives, from the abundance of your presence of love, joy and hope within.
Amen.
Prayer for Jan 28, 2024
From Joyce Rupp's "A Prayer of Compassion" in “The Cup of our Life”
Adapted and led by Karla Drader
Photo by Zeynep Sümer on Unsplash
WE ARE WHO YOU HAVE MADE US TO BE
God, You know, and so do we,
the many offers this world makes to us
that really are of little value in light of eternity.
The answer to boredom with a thing we have chosen
is more of it.
When we have money, we want more.
Why does that even make sense?
The awareness of those around us who have possessions, position, reputation, looks and talents that stretch beyond ours
is just a fact of life.
Why do we act as if we can actually lead the pack in any area?
There will always be someone beyond where we are.
Why do we take pleasure in another’s failure and pain?
Isn’t there already enough of this to go around?
And doesn’t everyone get their turn?
Why do we always see our short comings rather than the gifts You have given us?
Why do we dislike others and even ourselves when the God of the Universe clearly loves us as we are?
Help us to realize that we are created in Your image
and that is who we are at the core.
The things that cloud this truth in our lives can be used to drive us to You and the created image of You in all of us.
A flaw, a mistake, a lie, lust and envy can, because we feel the discomfort of these.
Help us to understand that you have better for us.
That You have created us with this discomfort that can send us on a journey to that created image in all of us
and that is really who we are.
But we make ourselves wait to go on that journey
because our disappointment or indulgence of the dark self
can be so overwhelming.
I have to say that I wish You would overwhelm us with Your love and the guidance of Your Spirit.
But You wait patiently for us to turn to You
and listen to the non-overwhelming, easily-ignored
whispers of the Spirit that are really always there – Help us to focus.
And I thank you that recognizing how much you love us is a boost in the right direction.
Help us to stop focusing on the things that we simply call “bad” about ourselves.
The things that stall us where we are or take us to darker places.
Help us to see these as a key part of our journey back to Your created order within us. The true US.
Help us to acknowledge that You created us
and when You were finished you said, “That is very good.”
We are still that creation, though tarnished.
Help us to see the tarnishing as an invitation on a journey with You back to understanding that You love us and always will.
We need to acknowledge the gifts you have given each of us.
They are enough to keep us busy for this lifetime.
With the help of your Spirit we have a guide on that road to
recovering Your full image within us.
Amen.
Prayers for Surrender to God’s Will and Letting Go
Prayers for Surrender to God’s Will and Letting Go
Heavenly Father,
In the quietness of my heart,
I come before You,
recognizing Your sovereignty and wisdom.
I acknowledge that Your plans are far greater than my own,
and Your ways are beyond my understanding.
Today, I surrender myself entirely to Your will.
As I navigate the paths of life,
I recognize that my own desires and aspirations
may not always align with Your divine purpose.
In this moment, I release my grip on my own plans and dreams, and I place them into Your capable hands.
I surrender my desires and attachments to Your loving care.
Help me release my grip on the things that bind me,
and teach me the freedom of letting go.
I surrender my need for control and open my heart to Your freedom. Break the chains that hold me captive,
and guide me in releasing my worries and fears.
Fill me with a spirit of trust and faith,
knowing that You hold my future and every detail of my life.
Grant me the grace to surrender my worries, fears,
and uncertainties to Your loving care.
May I find joy in the simplicity of a surrendered heart,
trusting that You provide all I need.
Help me embrace each moment with an open heart,
ready to follow where You lead.
May my surrendered prayers lead me to the abundant life
You have designed for me.
Amen
Prayer for Jan 14, 2024
Written by Solomon Samuel
Led by Grace R.A. Brown-Fudge
Photo by Billy Pasco on Unsplash
Prayer for Jan 7, 2024
Prayer written by Joyce Rupp in "Prayer Seeds"
Led by Karla Drader
Photo by Agustín Ljósmyndun on Unsplash
Suffering will come into our lives. Echoing Carol Orsborn in "The Art of Resilience", author, speaker and retreat leader Sr. Joyce Rupp invites us to poke around in our painful experiences...in what may feel like only ashes, to find an ember that can spark to life again, if we attend to it with love and hope. When we can be with our ashes, we may experience something new after the most destructive experience.
As we recall the challenges and suffering we have experienced, let's also remember that we have been, are, and will be, held in the Great Love of God.
We recall times when we received painful, upsetting news, how suddenly life took on the shape of unhappiness and apprehension.
We recall times of having to move on from something or someone harmful to our well-being.
We recall the darkness and uncertainty pressing upon our emotional and mental state…when life was filled with unresolved issues.
We recall sadness and a sense of loss when we said farewell to persons, places, or things we considered to be of great value.
We recall being hammered down by ungrounded and unfair judgments in the words and deeds of others.
We recall emotional and mental distress that led us to think it would never release itself and allow us a happier future.
We recall standing beneath the cross of another in great need of our faithful companionship and tender caring.
We recall times of having an inordinate amount of suffering placed in the lap of our lives and being required to receive it.
We recall being offended and becoming vulnerable, learning patience and humility through those hurts.
We recall how we made it through what seemed to be impossibly difficult and tumultuous times.
We recall the slow yet steady turn toward hope after the blows of defeat and disaster turned our world upside down.
We recall the fleeting moments when we sensed a power greater than ourselves at work amid the harshness that surrounded us.
We recall the unexpected tenderness, the startling kindness, the warmth of acceptance that breathed on the embers of our heart when we most needed to believe the fire was still there.
Ceaseless Ember, the steady glow of your strengthening love never dies.
You breathe on the barely-alive ashes
of what seems to be the destruction of our hope.
You stay with us, a spark of love within our discontent.
You slowly ignite our spirits with restored confidence
and belief in a less turbulent future.
May we remember this when life does not go as we wish.
Amen.
We give in so easily to despair,
To numb acceptance of ways of death.
We forget that joy and connection
are the engine of the universe.
Hear us as we bring our longing
Sing to us of your transformational love,
Be our Hope, Joy, Peace and Love.
Continue to interrupt the vicious cycles,
Kindle in us once again, or for the first time,
A passion for the possible.
Amen.
Prayer for Dec 24, 2023
Inspired by W. Brueggemann
Led by Karla Drader
Photo by Prateek Gautam on Unsplash
Prayer for Dec 17, 2023
Written by Kate Bowler in "Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day!"
Led by Karla Drader
Photo by Sunguk Kim on Unsplash
a blessing for peace
God, we long for peace,
but we have already drawn our blades.
We are at war with each other, and within ourselves.
Our world - the evidence of our folly - on full display.
We waste away in quarries dug by our own hands.
Oh, Jesus, come to us.
Come suddenly, into the center of our deepest need.
Come swiftly into the chaos of our conflict and distress.
Establish the peaceful order of your rule, not ours.
Your kingdom, not ours.
Reign with sovereignty in our hearts, which refuse correction.
Reign with power over all that is ungovernable.
Reign with mercy over our communities,
our neighborhoods, and our nation.
Blessed are we who look to you, Jesus,
to be the change we cannot enact.
Come, prince of peace, to our bleeding world.
Prayer for Joy
We wait, expectant, for the joy set before us
We sense it coming, catching glimpses
Turning our hearts towards it
Like facing east before the dawn
We look, we long,
We wait, we anticipate.
We work,
Making room so we’re ready
When joy finds us
When you greet our fears
With a dance.
Scatter the proud.
Amen.
Bring down the mighty from their thrones.
Amen.
Exalt the humble.
Amen.
Fill the hungry with good things.
Amen.
Send the rich away empty.
Amen.
Remember your mercy.
Amen.
God of rhythm, stillness, beauty
Draw us to take the time to listen and imagine
To notice and hear the gentle voice
at the heart of our lives
Deeper and surer than all the other voices
of disappointment, unease, self-criticism, bleakness.
Draw us to the holiness
of learning to hear the voice of our soul
Always there, with surprises and discoveries
that will continue to unfold.
Draw us to enter this gentleness
To perceive the subtle changes
of tone and quality in our daily rhythm -
The shifts in what consumes us -
our time, attention and energy.
Move us from hunger for the next event,
experience or achievement.
Teach us to come down from the treadmill
And walk on the earth.
Give us a new respect for ourselves and others
May we learn to see how wonderfully precious
this one life is.
May we see reality, not settling for illusion,
No more squandering ourselves
on things that deplete us.
Fill us, God, Source of life,
with energy and passion
For your way of Life and Love and Light.
Amen.
Prayer for Nov 26, 2023
Prayer based on excerpt from John O'Donohue’s Beauty: The Invisible Embrace - Rediscovering the True Sources of Compassion, Serenity, Hope
Led by Karla Drader
Photo by Yulia Khlebnikova on Unsplash
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