Too Little Burden

It’s not customary to see the necessity to pray for those (including ourselves) when we have “too much.” We pray when we are lacking, when we need something, not when we have everything; right?

Yet Jesus tells the faith family of Laodicea that in having everything, they missed what they needed most. So this week, as ones who as often as we are in need tend to as often have all we need, let us pray these words adapted from Earnest Campbell with and for one another. Striving to, as the apostle Paul did, to learn in Jesus “the secret to facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need” (Phil. 4:12).

Father, we pray today for ourselves and those among our faith family and in our communities and neighborhoods, who are burdened not by too little but by too much:

those (like myself at times) who have too much power that they have grown indifferent to the rights and claims of others, and are fast becoming what they do not wish to be;

those (like myself at times) who have so much health that they cannot understand the sick or reckon adequately with their own mortality;

those (lime myself at times) who have so much wealth that they prize possessions more relationship, and worry into the night about losing what they have;

those (like myself at times) who have so much virtue that they cannot see their sins or appreciate your grace;

those (like myself at times) who have so much leisure that they move like driftwood on the surface of existence, lacking any cause larger than themselves.

O Father, you are are able to save us from abundance or privation, to meet the strong in their strength, and in love show them (and myself at times) their need. Possess them (and myself) in the fullness of their powers, that what they (and I) have and what they (we) are may be conscripted for your service and there with Jesus, find wholeness and peace.

Because Jesus lives and reigns as Savior, Friend, and Lord. Amen.

From the Quieted Space

The psalmist declares, “I have calmed and quieted my soul” (Ps. 131:2). One translation says it this way, “I’ve cultivated a quiet heart.” From this quieted space springs forth a free and content life, says the psalmist. A life we all long for and a life that is borne from an earthy view of our heavenly Father. Awe and wonder of his love and care, as well as his rule and reign, has the psalmist in a quiet space. This week, let us pray together for a life birthed from this quieted space of soul and heart in the presence of our glorious God. We’ll do so with these words adapted from John Ballie. Words that we’d do well to come back again and again as we follow Jesus through life together.

Eternal Father of our souls, let our first thought of each day this week be of you, let our first impulse each day be to worship you, let our first word each day be your Name, let our first action each day be to kneel before you in prayed thanksgiving and freeing awe.

For your perfect wisdom and perfect goodness;

For the love you have for all people;

For the love you have for me and us;

For the great mysterious opportunity of our lives in your salvation story;

For your Spirit, who dwells in our hearts;

For the seven gifts of your Spirit which Jesus has for us;

We praise and worship you, O Father.

Yet when this day’s prayer is finished, do not let us think that our worship is ended and spend the rest of the day and week forgetting you. Rather, from these quiet moments and quieted spaces, let light and joy and power pour out and remain with us through every hour of this week.

May that light and joy and power:

Keep our thoughts pure;

Keep us gentle and truthful in all we say;

Keep us faithful and diligent in our work;

Keep us humble in our opinion of ourselves;

Keep us honorable and generous in our dealings with others;

Keep us loyal to every cherished memory of the past;

Keep us mindful of our eternal destiny as your children.

O, Father, you have been the refuge of your people through many generations; be our refuge in every moment and every need we face this week. Be our guide through all uncertainty and darkness. Be our guard against all that threatens our physical and spiritual well-being. Be our strength in times of trials and security in time of testing. Cheer our hearts with your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Savior, King, and Friend. Amen.

A Plea to Reflect

To enter into the kingdom of God, is to be in his presence. At least that is the picture Jesus, who has the key of David, describes for us in the letter to the faith family of Philadelphia. Written upon those whose loyal love compels them to follow Jesus is “The LORD Is There.” Right here, right now, the King of kings and LORD of lords present. This holy truth is ever amazing and yet routinely dismissed. And so, this week’s prayer, adapted from Earnest Campbell, is a confession and plea to live holy and true because The LORD Is Here.

We pray now, Father, for ourselves, Christ City Church, and your family of faith in our city;

acknowledging that our lost radiance, our much fretting, our tell-tale tensions

discredit the faith we profess and dishonor the holy truth of your ruling presence.

Renovate us, O Father, through the tireless work of your Holy Spirit, and our loyal love,

until all in us that is unworthy of the King and Kingdom may fall away,

and Jesus rule unrivaled in our hearts.

Work your will through us, O Father.

The beauty of your presence and reign reflected in our daily living.

May your Kingdom come and your will be done on earth

as it is in heaven.

All of this we pray through Jesus Chris our Lord, Savior, Friend, and King.

Amen.

A Mature(ing) Prayer

We never quite arrive, at least not until that final arriving. But it is not as if we wonder lost between our waking up in Jesus and his return. No, Peter tells us, that in the patience of tribulation and kingdom, we grow. “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (3:18) and in the “qualities” borne of grace experienced (1:3-10). So, let us join in this mature prayer adapted from John Ballie, as together we continuing maturing in Jesus.

Father, may we go out to the work of another week, still drenched in your wonderful loving kindness, soaked in your empowering call, dripping in the companionship and care of your Son.

May we, this week, be Jesus-followers, apprentices, not only in our words but also in our works;

May we follow bravely in the footsteps of our Master, where they may lead;

May we be uncompromising and honest with ourselves; trusting your merciful searching out our ways;

May there be no self-orienting pity or indulgence in our lives this week;

May our thinking be clear, our speech truthful, open, and compassionate, and our action courageous, decisive, and humble.

O Father, we pray not only with and for Christ City Church, but for the entire community of faith in city to which we belong: for family and friends and colleagues and neighbors and classmates a part of Your Church, asking you to keep a fatherly eye upon them. We pray likewise—

for all who this week will face any great decision;

for all those this week working to settle important affairs in the lives of individuals, our city, and in nations;

for all who are shaping public opinion in our time and place;

for all who write and record what other people read and listen;

for all who are lifting up the light of truth in a world ignorant of Jesus and off the mark of his life;

for all whose hands are worn with too much work, and for the unemployed whose hands have found no work this week.

O Jesus our King, Savior, and Friend, who for the sake of all us brothers and sisters relinquished earthly comfort and satisfaction, so that our joy may be full, forbid it that we should ever again live for ourselves alone. Amen.

Penetrating Prayer

Jesus is King of kings, ruling over the Kingdom which will not shatter like all those “kingdoms” we see, and his eyes pernitrate our hearts and minds. He sees what we do not, and what we do not want others to see. Still, he offers us a place of honor and responsibility in his rule. He ask only that we hold fast to what we have in him, keeping his works of love and faith, service and endurance. Our collective prayer this week asks for Jesus’ eyes to no only reveal but transform, not only pernitrate but purify.

Let us pray together these words adapted from Ernest Campbell.

Our names and needs, hearts and minds, are know to you, O King Jesus. Behind our outward appearance and measured manners lie unruly kingdoms of fierce ambition, shameful pride, and passions that we hope will never see the light of day.

Where we shout the loudest we are most insecure;

Where we have betrayed you most grievously we are most defensive.

Where we have sensed and done your will most fully we are

largely unaware,

and our witness is stronger for it.

Help us, Father, to see as you see. To see each other as you see us. To see people in your image, created to share responsibility in your kingdom. Let the love of Christ so rule our hearts and minds that each may think of the other first, and all of us live to adorn the gospel of the crucified and risen Christ.

These prayers we offer to you through the same Jesus Christ our King of kings. Amen.

Living In Tension

Throughout the seven letters from Jesus in the Revelation emerges a theme of living in tension. A tension of culture and conviction, heart and desire, what they are after and for what they settle. At times, the churches are encouraged in the way they live in tension, and at times, admonished to keep the tension, for when it disappears, they are overcome, and so are we. So, today and throughout this week, let us pray together amid the tension, sharing these words adapted from John Ballie.

Father, you are the Lord of the night as you are of the day, and all the stars are obedient to your will. In an hour of darkness (my own, a friend’s, a nation’s), we too submit our will to yours.

O Father, set us free—

from the stirrings of self will that has no need of your within our hearts;

from cowardly avoidance of the things we need to do;

from rebellious reluctance to face necessary suffering;

from discontentment with our place in life;

from jealousy of those whose place in life appears easier;

from being dissatisfied with our talents yet hungry for more;

from the pride which sets human knowledge above your wisdom;

from undisciplined thought;

from being unwilling to learn and disinclined to serve.

O Father, you are often closest to us when we are farthest from you, and you are near at hand even when we feel that you have abandoned us; mercifully grant that the defeat f our self-centeredness may be the triumph in us of your eternal purpose.

May we grow more sure of your reality and power;

May we reach a clearer picture of the meaning of our lives on Earth;

May we strengthen our hold on eternal life;

May we look increasingly to what lies beyond our vision;

May our desires become less unruly and our thoughts more pure;

May our love for other people grow deeper and more tender, and may we be more willing to take their burdens upon ourselves.

To your care, O Father, we commend our souls and the souls of all whom we love and who love us; through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, the first and the last, dead and alive forevermore. Amen.

Because He Lives

On Easter Sunday, we were reminded of the life we can live because Jesus lives. A forever life and a life lived as a taste of the forever along the Way. Because He lives, we can live like Him. And while the saying rolls of the tongue easily enough, we all know how far we feel from practicing resurrection. So, what should we do when we recognize our limitations? Thank God that He has none.

Let us share this prayer of confession and praise adapted from Earnest Campbell.

Father, look upon your people, Christ City Church, and the church of Jesus in Dallas, across the United States, and around the world, as we pray, with mercy and forbearance; for we are a puzzle to ourselves, easily buffeted by harmful desires, and readily drawn from life to death. Let the very act of praise itself be a turning back to you and a means of grace.

We thank you that we are made in your image; that however slight the resemblance at times, there is in us that which tells us we belong to you.

We thank you that you have pledged your care for us; that however needful we may be in any given circumstances, the eternal is our refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.

We thank you that your grace is ever greater than our sin; that however dark our sense of failure and defeat, your pardoning word stands sure and your peace near.

Remembering your goodness in all places of your dominion, we are moved to offer you our praise.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Good Friday

In His revelation to John, Jesus encourages his faint-hearted friend and follower to “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” (Rev. 1:17-18). John, rightly so, was overwhelmed by the Holy Presence. Afraid, I am sure, for like Isaiah and we, he knew his own unholiness was exposed in the powerful light “like the sun shining in full strength” (1:16). Yet, Jesus says not to worry, for His life was taken and then taken back. He is the one who is judge and gatekeeper, and He loves us.

Today Christians around the world remember this love for us in ultimate action. Love in a manner that is truly overwhelming and exposing. Today we remember that Jesus died because God so loved the world. May these words from Malcolm Guite allow us to remember and respond to God’s love for us on the cross.

The dark nails pierce him and the sky turns black,

We watch him as he labours to draw breath.

He takes our breath away to give it back,

Return it to its birth through his slow death.

We hear him struggle, breathing through the pain,

Who once breathed out his spirit on the deep,

Who formed us into consciousness from sleep.

His Spirit and his life he breathes in all,

Mantles* his world in his one atmosphere,

And now he comes to breathe beneath the pall**

Of our pollutions, draw our injured air

To cleanse it and renew. His final breath

Breathes and bears us through the gates of death.

*Envelops, as does a cloak.

**A cloth spread over a coffin or tomb.

Maundy Thursday

Unless you grew up in a tradition that kept the prayers and celebrations of “holy week,” the days leading up to Easter may not have included a time of reflecting on Jesus’ last supper with His friends before His crucifixion. Well, that is what today, Maundy Thursday, marks. The label comes from the shortened Latin word “mandatum,” which means “command” and is the root of our word “mandate.”

On the night before Jesus died, He gathered his apprentices and friends together, giving them a mandate, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you…By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn. 13:34-35)

It was at this same meal that Jesus gave the disciples our regular practice of remembering His love for us in the earthy elements of broken bread and poured out wine (Lk. 22:19-20), and the often overshadowed example of His love in the washing of the disciples’ feet (Jn. 13:2-17). An “example,” Jesus says, “that you also should do just as I have done to you.” Both of which he offers even to those who betray him and abandon him.

Here at His final meal before His love is ultimately demonstrated, he not only mandatums a love like His but also gives us all we need never to forget how He loves us. May these words from Malcolm Guite help us remember and respond to Jesus’ mandate on Maundy Thursday and all the days to come.

Here is the source of every sacrament,

The all-transforming presence of the Lord,

Replenishing our every element,

Remaking us in his creative Word.

For here the earth herself gives bread and wine,

The air delights to bear his Spirit’s speech,

The fire dances where the candles shine,

The water cleanses us with his gentle touch.

And here he shows the full extent of love

To us whose love is always incomplete,

In vain we search the heavens high above,

The God of love is kneeling at our feet.

Though we betray him, though it is the night,

He meets us here and loves us into light.

As the Church

This weekend we enter into the pastoral words of Jesus to His church. Words meant to encourage and exhort us in our shared lives through Him. And so, today, we pray this prayer adapted from John Ballie as the church of Jesus Christ.

Father God, we kneel before you in humble adoration as we set our face to the tasks and interests of another day, week, and season. Thank you for the blessed assurance that we shall not be called upon to face them alone or in our own strength, but that at all times we will be accompanied by your presence, strengthened by your grace, and encouraged by your family.

Thank you that throughout our human life run the footprints of our Lord and Savior, King and Sage, Priest and Friend, Jesus Christ, who for our sake was made flesh and tasted all the different challenges of daily living as well as the end we need no longer fear.

Thank you that as we go about our work and play, relationships and aspirations, we can be conscious of the spiritual presence of the heavenly host.

Thank you for the saints who rest from their labors, the patriarchs and matriarchs, prophets and prophetesses, apostles, noble martyrs, for all the holy and humble, for our own dear departed friends and family who have shown us your way.

As we remember them we bless and adore your great name. We rejoice, O Father, that you have called us to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Let the awareness of this holy fellowship follow us wherever we go, cheering us in loneliness, protecting us in company, strengthening us against temptation, and encouraging us to act in love and justice.

O Lord Jesus Christ, you called the disciples to shine as lights in a dark world. In shame and repentance we acknowledge before you the many faults and weaknesses of which we are guilty, we who in this generation represent your Church to the world. We as Christ City Church especially acknowledge our part in this.

Forgive us, we pray, the feebleness of our witness, the meagerness of our giving and loving, and the mediocrity of our zeal. Help us to live in equal measure to the love have received, following the One who cared for the poor and the oppressed such as we. Let the strength of your Spirit, O Jesus, be in us all, to share the world’s suffering and redress its wrongs, in the fullness of your joy.

Through your life given, we live.

Amen.

Humble Prayer

No matter how much we think of God, nor how vividly we proclaim his grandeur, he is always more. More than we can think or imagine. More than we preach and proclaim. And it is often amid the uncontrollable circumstances of daily living where we discover/remember/embrace his “moreness.”

This week’s prayer, adapted from Ernest Campbell, is a prayer from a seat of humility to a Father who is so much more. Let us pray together.

O Father, our maker and our God, the giver and sustainer of life, we bless your name at all times. Your praise continually rises from our grateful hearts.

We thank you that your power extends beyond the prowess and achievements of humankind.

that our towers never do quite touch the sky,

that always you are more than we have thought or preached you to be.

We thank you that a fall of snow can hobble a busy and self-centered city,

that strong headwinds can slow our jets and make us and our “needed items,” late,

that heavy rains can force a cancellation of public events,

that high seas command the respect of our sturdiest ocean-going ships.

In short, we thank you, Father, for everything and anything that humbles us before the mystery of life and keeps us from the folly of worshiping the works of our own hands. You alone are God, and together we bless your holy name.

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Breaking Point

We don’t have to looks much further than our network of relationships, and certainly no further than our immediate neighborhood, to see someone nearing a “breaking-point.” Perhaps we don’t have to even look beyond the mirror.

May our prayer this week jog our awareness and draw us into the brokenness and near-breaking of those whom God has allotted that we should live amongst. Remembering, that he is not far from each one of us (Acts 17:26-28). Let us pray these words adapted from Earnest Campbell, for and with one another.

Father, we pray today for those in our network of relationships and in close proximity to us whoa re near the breaking point:

those who are expected to produce more than they can deliver;

those whose inner grief and loneliness have plunged them into the heart of darkness;

those who need work but find the market tight;

those whose every breath is drawn in a struggle against some dread disease;

those who have been repeatedly rebuffed because of color;

those who have await the release of imprisoned loved ones;

those who slowly inched away from you and suffer now the pain of remembered gladness.

O Father who is able to keep what we have committed to you, impart to the sorely pressed the courage to hang on yet one day more. Let your strength be ministered to them according to their need and your boundless grace. Let our feet and hands, head and heart join with you in ministering grace.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer Out of Hunger

Jesus says that a “Bless-ed” life includes desires and longings born from not having something. Specifically, Jesus says that the Blessed “hunger and thirst for righteousness...” The paradox of our longing is that it brings satisfaction: “…for the shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6) Our apatite for what we lack—a right relationship with God and with others—is not an endless craving, but one that finds satisfaction in the very pangs. For in our ache we recognize what we lack, and can therefore respond with the very nutrients and delicacies we seek.

Our prayer this week, adapted from John Ballie, is a prayer out of the hunger pains for righteous; desires to relate rightly with our Father, our siblings, and our friends.

Father, all human hearts lie revealed and open before you. Forbid that we should seek to hide from you anything that we have done or thought or imagined this week.

All these things that are hidden from others, let us now openly acknowledge in your presence. Let no false shame keep us from confessing the wrongs that proper shame should have kept us from committing.

Father, whose tender mercies cover us all, humbly and sorrowfully we crave your forgiveness for the sins of this week:

For every weakening and degrading thought towards another and ourselves that we have allowed to dwell in our minds;

For every hasty and thoughtless word spoken to you and neighbor and family and friend;

For every failure of self-control;

For every stumbling block we have put in someone else’s way, binding on others what has been loosed from us;

For every lost opportunity to love as we have been loved;

For lazy feet and procrastinating wills.

Grant that as the days go by, your Spirit may more and more rule in our hearts, bearing His fruit in our lives with you and with one another.

Into your loving care we commit all those who are dear to us. Bless all those with whom we live and work and worship. Grant them a satisfying sense of your reality and power. Be with all those who are in danger or distress this day. Be in every sore heart, every grief-stricken or broken home, and beside every sickbed giving to all the blessing of your peace and warmth of your presence.

In Jesus' name, we pray,

Amen.

Past and Future

Past and future come together in gratitude. That is the assumption of this week’s Collective Prayer. In gratitude for what has been true, we are open to what is becoming true. So, let us join together in gratitude through these words adapted from Earnest Campbell.

Eternal God, our Father, beneath whose rule we live and in whose grace we stand, with all that is within us we bless your holy name. We thank you for the constants in our life:

that the ground is firm beneath our tread;

that day follows night;

that the seasons march in predictable succession;

that the gates of mercy are ever open to us in our need.

We thank you for all that is new and changing in our life:

for startling breakthroughs in the realm of medicine and science;

for the audibility of people too long silent, and the visibility of wrongs too long concealed;

the development and creativity in our ability to connect, in particular the ability to worship together even when not together;

for new people next door or up the street, and the prospect of contributing to each other’s maturation.

O heavenly Father, whose ways are from of old and yet whose works are ever new, make us grateful for the past and open toward the future.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Prayer for Burdens

I don’t know about you, but the burdens that most consume my attention are my own. I don’t want it to be so, but I struggle to be otherwise. I want to worry less, and I want to care more. This week’s prayer is for people like me. It is a prayer for burdens. Will you join with your faith family and me in praying these words adapted from John Ballie.

Most gracious Father, grant that in everything that happens today and this week, that we may carry with us the remembrance of the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ our Lord.

For your fatherly love shown in Jesus Christ your beloved Son;

For his readiness to suffer for us;

For the redemptive passion that filled his heart;

We praise and bless your holy name.

For the power of his cross in the history of the world since he cam;

For all who taken up their own crosses and followed him;

For the noble company of martyrs and for all who are willing to die that others may live;

For all those who freely choose to suffer for the sake of others,

for pain bravely endured, for sorrows of this life that have been

used for the building up of eternal joys;

We praise and bless your holy name.

Father, you look at us in unspeakable love and tenderness, compassion and comradery in the sorrows of earth. Give us grace, we pray, to understand the meaning of the pain and disappointments that we are called to endure in your patience permitting. Save us from worrying. Give us strong hearts to bear our burdens. Give us willing hearts to bear the burdens of others. Give us believing hearts to cast all our burdens on you.

Glory be to you, O Father, and to you, O Christ, and to you, O Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.

For the Church XI

Jesus, especially through his parables, awakes us to a reality far richer and more certain than what we observe with only our five senses. A reality in which God is with us, God is for us, God is saving, sustaining, staving-off evil, overcoming ill, and bringing forth new and abundant life. It is this reality, God’s kingdom as we call it, which we wake into and go about our daily living each day. Yet it is a reality often overshadowed by, well, shadows, reflections of life as it is and should be, but not life itself. So today, we pray together for open eyes so that we might experience life as it really is and should be.

Let’s join together through these words adapted from Ernest Campbell,

We find your name upon our lips, O Father, for you have placed it in our hearts. However much we twist and turn and run to flee from your great love, we sense in the depth of our being that we have no future save the future that we know in you.

For minds that can think;

For hearts that can feel;

For hands and feet that can do;

We thank you.

For large purposes that call us;

For associations and causes that unite us;

For grace that restores and forgives;

We thank you.

In a day when the problems that confront us seem more than we can handle, open our eyes to the reality of your kingdom come, your will being done, on earth as it is in heaven. Open our eyes to the reality and resources of life as Your children, sisters and brothers of the King.

May we be grateful, courageous, and kind. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Praying with Dr. King

On Monday (January 18th), our nation recognizes the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A life spent well in abiding love of Jesus through which fruit that perseveres was bore. And yet, his was a life taken too quickly by hate and fear. As we reflect on how Dr. King’s life with Jesus calls us as persons and as a nation to live together, let us pray these humbling words of Dr. King. Together, let us repent with sure anticipation our Father’s response.

O thou Eternal God, out of whose absolute power and infinite intelligence the whole universe has come into being. We humbly confess that we have not loved thee with our hearts, souls and minds and we have not loved our neighbors as Christ loved us. We have all too often lived by our own selfish impulses rather than by the life of sacrificial love as revealed by Christ. We often give in order to receive, we love our friends and hate our enemies, we go the first mile but dare not travel the second, we forgive but dare not forget.

And so as we look within ourselves we are confronted with the appalling fact that the history of our lives is the history of an eternal revolt against thee.

But thou, O God, have mercy upon us.

Forgive us for what we could have been but failed to be. Give us the intelligence to know thy will. Give us the courage to do thy will. Give us the devotion to love thy will. In the name and spirit of Jesus we pray.

Amen.

For "Our" Church X

We end this first week of January 2021, longing for something different that we witnessed and experienced in 2020. We desire something new, to be newness and bring newness in and through our shared lives in Jesus. Today, and for this next week, we pray together to be a witness to what we long for, doing so through these words adapted from Ernest Campbell.

We pray, heavenly Father, for Christ City Church, bearing as individuals and as a faith family the marks of a culture that is too much with us. So…

…tune our responses to human need that we may reflect your Spirit rather than the spirit of the age.

…deliver us from want and hypocrisy that our yes may be yes and our no no.

…free us from the need to justify ourselves that others may be at ease in our presence, and our own hearts at peace.

Bless this faith family with your loving-kindness, that here on this hill that cannot be hid we may continue to raise a consistent, costly, and contagious witness to the truth that sets us free.

All of this we pray in faith and with thanksgiving through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for the New Year

Today is the first day of a new year. A day to take stock of what has been and to begin afresh into what could be. Today we pray in both directions, praising our Father for what has been (and will continue), and committing expectantly to keeping to what we can be together in Jesus.

Join your faith family today in praying these words adapted from John Ballie,

Eternal Father of our souls, let our first thought this first day of this new year be of you. Let our first impulse be to worship you, let our first word your Name, let our first action be to kneel before you in prayer.

For your perfect wisdom and perfect goodness often seen most clearly when looking back;

For the love you have for all people of all colors and political convictions;

For the love you have for us who are no better in ourselves than them;

For the great and mysterious opportunity of life with you right here and right now;

For your Spirit, who dwells in our hearts;

For the gifts of your Spirit by which life is full and a blessing to others;

We praise and worship you, O Father.

Still, when this new year’s prayer is finished, do let us think that our worship is ended and spend the rest of of this day and this coming year forgetting you most of the time and remembering only occasionally. Instead, from this quite transition from chaos to craving, let light and oy and power pour out and remain with us through each hour of each day in 2021.

May that light and joy and power:

Keep our thoughts pure;

Keep us gentle and truthful in all that we say;

Keep us discerning good, true, and beautiful;

Keep us speaking for those without a voice and caring for those who are forgotten;

Keep us faithful and diligent in our daily work;

Keep us humble in our opinions of ourselves;

Keep us honorable and generous in our dealing with one another and neighbors;

Keep us loyal to every cherished memory of the past;

Keep us mindful of our eternal destiny as your children.

O Father, you have been the refuge of your people through many generations; be our refuge in 2021, in every moment and every need that we face. Be our guide through all uncertainty and darkness. Be our guard against all that threatens our spiritual well-being. Be our strength in times of testing. Chee our hearts this new day of this new year—and everyday that follows—with your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

God With Us!

Today we celebrate God in flesh and blood. God on our side of history and hope. God with us, Emmanuel. Today, wherever and with whomever you find yourself, we can pray this poem by Malcolm Guite, knowing that our Father has answered! Let us pray together,

O come, O come, and be our God-with-us

O long-sought With-ness for a world without,

O secret seed, O hidden spring of light.

Come to us Wisdom, come unspoken Name,

Come Root, and Key, and King, and holy Flame.

O quickened little wick so tightly curled,

Be folded with us into time and place,

Unfold for us the mystery of grace

And make a womb of all this wounded world.

O heart of heaven beating in the earth,

O tiny hope within our hopelessness

Come to be born, to bear us to our birth,

To touch a dying world with new-made hands

And make these rags of time our swaddling bands.