May 31, 2011

I give myself to you, God of all.

Please use me.

Break me apart,

And refine me.

Remove the parts of me that are unacceptable to you,

Place within me a new heart,

Fully created by you,

Filled with your spirit.

Remake me, O God.

Remake me to shine in the way that you intended,

And in the same way that you shine…

Even if it is only a tiny fraction of your light,

Let me shine light.

Amen.

May 30, 2011

Help me to commune with you, O God.

Help me to know you intimately, and help me to feel your presence all around me.

I pray to know more of you each day

So that I can learn how to love in the way you do,

And so I can help others to see who you are,

Shining through me.

Amen.

May 29, 2011

God, who of us has the right to say they have all the answers?

There are denominations that teach this and that…

There are other world religions that teach things about love and peace and equality…

But often, each of these wants to claim that they have the one right answer.

Each wants to say the other does not have the truth, or only part of the truth.

In the end, only you, O God, know.

Help us to get along,

Using the things that help us to love

And agreeing where we can.

Help us to never claim someone else’s experience of the divine is wrong or impossible,

And help us to continue to talk to one another so we can continue to learn from one another.

Amen.

May 28, 2011

What do you want from us, Parent God?

What do you want us to be?

If it’s all about love,

Why is it so hard to love?

If we are to bring others into relationship with you,

Why do others seem to think that idea is so strange,

And why would anyone react to us in anger when we try to introduce them to you?

Why was your Son persecuted for revealing the kingdom of heaven?

And how can we possibly hope to spread your love and his

When he himself was rejected by the world he created?

Strengthen us,

Move us,

Mold us into your image,

And help us to persevere

So that we may spend eternity praising you.

Amen.

May 27, 2011

I need your grace, each and every day, O Lord.

I need your forgiveness to be renewed,

Because I am always making mistakes.

I keep trying to remake myself in your image,

But it is so hard to stay with you,

And so easy to take steps in the wrong direction.

I do this even when I know it is what I am doing.

Lord, God, forgive me,

And please do the re-creating yourself,

So that I can stay in your light

And not compel myself toward the darkness.

Amen.

May 26, 2011

Lord God, I thank you for the breath I take each day.

I take each breath, each heartbeat, each moment for granted.

This is just the same way I take your presence for granted.

I know you will always be there, and be here with me,

Sustaining my life and re-creating my world each day.

Help me to remember the wonderful things you have done for me

Each and every day of my life,

And help me to keep returning my thanks to you,

Gracious and loving God.

Amen.

May 25, 2011

You have made this day,

I praise you greatly for all you have done!

You desired that the world be created, and it was.

You desired that humans be created, and we were.

You desired relationship with us humans,

And some accepted, while others either distrusted you,

Or simply went another way.

Help us, the church, to guide others into the relationship you want.

Help us to show, not force, others to find you.

Help us to keep from judging the way that you relate to humans other than ourselves,

And help us to live with our differences in peace.

Amen.