Oh Lord,
How we have experienced your generosity! Thank for the abundant life you have given us. Today we have been confronted with the truth that we are like 2 year olds, holding our possessions close and crying out, "Mine!" Forgive us, Lord, for holding tightly to the gifts you have given us. Help us to release our hold, to open wide our hands to share with others. May we give generously, so that like those in Acts, no one will be in need. Begin in me. Begin in our church.
Thank you, God.
Amen!
Jun 30, 2013
Jun 9, 2013
Agents of Healing
Dear Lord Jesus,
We heard your word today. We saw many who are broken and wounded seeking prayer and healing, each need as diverse as the people seeking healing. Dear Jesus, we know that you are the original wounded healer. You were wounded for our sins, killed and raised again, healed, that we might have life, abundant life. Lord, you have given us an example, not of standing above and fixing those who are broken, but standing beside and healing. You understand our brokenness. You deal gently with us.
Lord, I lift up each person who requested prayer this morning and those who need prayer, but did not ask. I pray for a mighty healing in our midst. And I pray that you will receive glory because of the work you are doing in our lives.
Let us not stop there. Each one of us during our daily lives comes into contact with hurting people. Awaken the hearts of people that you desire to heal. Open our eyes, Lord, to those you are awakening. Use our woundedness to heal those around us. Give us the courage to go toward the hurt instead of walking away from it. May we be bearers of hope. May we bring living water to those who are thirsty. May we be willing participants of your healing. Take us a step further, Lord. Help us to walk away from our comfort zone and seek those who need you. Take us with you into the homes of the broken and needy.
In the precious, holy and healing name of Jesus,
Amen
We heard your word today. We saw many who are broken and wounded seeking prayer and healing, each need as diverse as the people seeking healing. Dear Jesus, we know that you are the original wounded healer. You were wounded for our sins, killed and raised again, healed, that we might have life, abundant life. Lord, you have given us an example, not of standing above and fixing those who are broken, but standing beside and healing. You understand our brokenness. You deal gently with us.
Lord, I lift up each person who requested prayer this morning and those who need prayer, but did not ask. I pray for a mighty healing in our midst. And I pray that you will receive glory because of the work you are doing in our lives.
Let us not stop there. Each one of us during our daily lives comes into contact with hurting people. Awaken the hearts of people that you desire to heal. Open our eyes, Lord, to those you are awakening. Use our woundedness to heal those around us. Give us the courage to go toward the hurt instead of walking away from it. May we be bearers of hope. May we bring living water to those who are thirsty. May we be willing participants of your healing. Take us a step further, Lord. Help us to walk away from our comfort zone and seek those who need you. Take us with you into the homes of the broken and needy.
In the precious, holy and healing name of Jesus,
Amen
May 22, 2013
Spirit of God Descend Upon My Heart
Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;
Wean it from earth; through all its pulses move;
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art;
And make me love Thee as I ought to love.
I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies,
No sudden rending of the veil of clay,
No angel visitant, no opening skies;
But take the dimness of my soul away.
Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh;
Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear.
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh,
Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.
Hast Thou not bid me love Thee, God and King?
All, all Thine own, soul, heart and strength and mind.
I see Thy cross; there teach my heart to cling:
O let me seek Thee, and O let me find!
Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,
One holy passion filling all my frame;
The kindling of the heaven descended Dove,
My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.
by George Croly and Frederick A. Atkinson, 1870.
May 19, 2013
What Does This Mean?
Oh God, you are so great! We have experienced awesome weather this afternoon and we have been spared. Thank you!
Your power is beyond our comprehension. It is too great for us to fathom. After sitting under the stairs of our basement listening for the sound of a train coming, I am imagining how utterly amazed the disciples were when they witnessed "a sound like the blowing of a violent wind [that] came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." Wow, God!
Lord, fill our church with this fire. Equip us to speak the language of our neighbors to share your good news. Empower us to carry out your redemptive, healing purposes in Christ.
Help us not to stay in a holy huddle, safe inside our church, but send us out. Help us to be flexible and adaptable to follow your leading. Help us to be receptive to the Holy Spirit and willing to rely on his presence and power. May we, like Paul, "...become all things to all people so that by all possible means [we] might save some."
Lord, we pray this with fear and trembling, knowing that your ways are not our ways, and that awesome, scary and wonderful things happen when we ask you to take control of our lives.
Amen! (Let it be so)
Your power is beyond our comprehension. It is too great for us to fathom. After sitting under the stairs of our basement listening for the sound of a train coming, I am imagining how utterly amazed the disciples were when they witnessed "a sound like the blowing of a violent wind [that] came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." Wow, God!
Lord, fill our church with this fire. Equip us to speak the language of our neighbors to share your good news. Empower us to carry out your redemptive, healing purposes in Christ.
Help us not to stay in a holy huddle, safe inside our church, but send us out. Help us to be flexible and adaptable to follow your leading. Help us to be receptive to the Holy Spirit and willing to rely on his presence and power. May we, like Paul, "...become all things to all people so that by all possible means [we] might save some."
Lord, we pray this with fear and trembling, knowing that your ways are not our ways, and that awesome, scary and wonderful things happen when we ask you to take control of our lives.
Amen! (Let it be so)
Apr 21, 2013
Another chapter is over
Dear Lord,
We thank you for the provision of an interim pastor while we waited for a more permanent pastor. We thank you for Pastor Keith and the ways that he ministered among us this past year. We ask your blessing on him as he begins his interim work in Gardner, KS. We pray that you will be at work in his life and his marriage as he has this long commute. May he come alongside what you are doing in this church where he will be going. May he be your hands and feet, and may this be a partnership with the people of this church. Minister to him as he ministers to others. Bless him and Karen, dear Lord, and keep them in your way.
In the precious and holy name of Jesus,
Amen
We thank you for the provision of an interim pastor while we waited for a more permanent pastor. We thank you for Pastor Keith and the ways that he ministered among us this past year. We ask your blessing on him as he begins his interim work in Gardner, KS. We pray that you will be at work in his life and his marriage as he has this long commute. May he come alongside what you are doing in this church where he will be going. May he be your hands and feet, and may this be a partnership with the people of this church. Minister to him as he ministers to others. Bless him and Karen, dear Lord, and keep them in your way.
In the precious and holy name of Jesus,
Amen
Apr 3, 2013
May God Bless You...
May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world so that you can do what others claim cannot be done to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
--A Franciscan benediction
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world so that you can do what others claim cannot be done to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
--A Franciscan benediction
Mar 31, 2013
Easter
Dear Lord,
We once again celebrate your death and resurrection, our ticket to life. How thankful we are that "while we were yet sinners, you died for us!" How thankful we are that your love encompasses the whole of our beings, that you do not require us to "clean up our acts" before you accept us. Help us, Lord, to allow this incomparable and incomprehensible love to heal our hearts and draw us to you. On this day of celebration, may we be aware of your great love of us, may it seep into every part of our beings and overflow to all with whom we come into contact.
In the precious and holy name of your son who died that we might live,
Amen!
We once again celebrate your death and resurrection, our ticket to life. How thankful we are that "while we were yet sinners, you died for us!" How thankful we are that your love encompasses the whole of our beings, that you do not require us to "clean up our acts" before you accept us. Help us, Lord, to allow this incomparable and incomprehensible love to heal our hearts and draw us to you. On this day of celebration, may we be aware of your great love of us, may it seep into every part of our beings and overflow to all with whom we come into contact.
In the precious and holy name of your son who died that we might live,
Amen!
Mar 29, 2013
Good Friday Intercession
For our sake our Redeemer suffered death and was buried, and rose again. With heartfelt love let us adore him, and pray:
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ our teacher, for our sake you were obedient even to accepting death,
- teach us to obey the Father's will in all things.
Christ our life, by your death on the cross you destroyed the power of evil and death,
- may we die with you, to rise with you in glory.
Christ our King, you became an outcast among us, a worm and no man,
- teach us the humility by which you saved the world.
Christ our salvation, you gave yourself up to death out of love for us,
- help us to show your love to one another.
Christ our Savior, on the cross you embraced all time with your outstretched arms,
- unite God's scattered children in your kingdom of salvation.
www.onlineministries.creighton.edu
Mar 24, 2013
A New Pastor
Thank you, Lord, for your provision. Thank you for past pastors, for Pastor Keith who has been with us through this interim, and for our future Pastor Bea. Please be with her as she prepares for this move. Guide her decisions, her search for a home, and the many other decisions she needs to make over the next few weeks. And be with our church as we prepare for a new leader in our midst. We know that when a new pastor comes, some among us will leave the Journey. We grieve the loss and ask your guidance as they choose new places to worship and minister.
We sense that you are doing something new in our midst. Open our eyes to what you are doing and what you would have us to do. May we not sit down and rest when Pastor Bea arrives, but may we come along side and labor together with her. Our desire is to reach the lost. Guide us in that. Show us how, who, where, when, what. Lead us in your way.
We are grateful, Lord. Grateful for the journey, the path that you have brought us on. Grateful for a new beginning. We praise you, Lord!
We sense that you are doing something new in our midst. Open our eyes to what you are doing and what you would have us to do. May we not sit down and rest when Pastor Bea arrives, but may we come along side and labor together with her. Our desire is to reach the lost. Guide us in that. Show us how, who, where, when, what. Lead us in your way.
We are grateful, Lord. Grateful for the journey, the path that you have brought us on. Grateful for a new beginning. We praise you, Lord!
Mar 18, 2013
A New Thing
A new thing you tell us you are doing, Lord. We are excited that a candidate is coming this weekend. We are excited to think we might have a pastor again soon. But when that happens, there will be change. We're not good with change, Lord. We fight it. We whine and complain. Help us, Lord, to see with your eyes. Help us to get on board with your plans and what you are doing. Help us to trust you and this new thing that you are doing in our midst.
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