Personal Prayer (1)
Prayer
Gentle Words In A Raging Storm
Prayers for all occasions
How like me to go off to write a book of prayers
and forget to pray.
And how like you, O Lord, to smile at that
knowing me better than I know myself.
How seldom do I find the time,
make the time,
take the time,
to spend time with you?
How often do you come to me
tugging at my shirt sleeve,
bumping into my heart,
nudging at my conscience?
I don't know if it's prayer,
but we do communicate,
don't we?
We do find a way to keep in touch,
to stay together,
to move through each day with hope,
to sing a song of love,
to enter stumbling, shaking
into the suffering of another.
It's a way of praying continuously,
constantly, with each trembling thought,
each warm desire,
to do it your way,
to follow where you lead,
to go where you send me. Amen.
Personal Prayer (2)
O Silent and Mysterious God, forgive my doubts and
impatience.
For I sometimes yearn for a loud, aggressive God:
one who will shame the thoughtless and humiliate the proud
with a strong arm of power.
And sometimes I want to know the secret of all things and to
demand justification for the things I don't understand.
I want a reason for chilling winters that slay the sick and old;
I insist on an explanation for the sudden dismantling of a
relationship through death or disloyalty;
I seek to know why children flirt with drug addiction or
become enslaved to alcohol;
I wonder why the mean, callous, and cunning always seem to
come out on top,
while the winsome, kind, and decent people die in the prime of
life;
and I want to know why people must so often suffer the last
years of their lives alone or incapacitated.
I want answers!
... not faith.
I want a puppet who jumps to the yank of my indignation,
not a God who calls me to obedience and faithfulness.
Restore within me a humble and contrite heart,
faith in your wisdom, acceptance of your will
and trust in the ultimate purpose and aim of a God who
shows power in powerlessness by allowing your only Son to
become the victim of hatred, prejudice, and pride -- all in the name of love.
Forgive me, Great God of Life, for entertaining false gods
and make me ever thankful for the living witness
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Personal Prayer (3)
Deliver me, O God, from my self-imposed limitations.
Deliver me from that which keeps me down or holds
me back,
from that which chips away at my self-confidence,
from that which obstructs or aborts the birth of your
gift of life and hope in my heart.
May I find the courage to release the powers within,
to throw off the shackles of shame and timidity,
to walk with faith instead of fear.
May I dare to become what you created me to be
and to strive always for "the more excellent way."
May the word, "Yes," replace my, "Not yet";
the affirmation, "All things are possible with God,"
dislodge my rationalizations, my clinging to the
familiar, the safe, the well-worn.
O God, who makes all things new, transform my
trembling will into the smiling confidence of one
who lives not for oneself but for your Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Personal Prayer (4)
God of Grace, when I stumble I look for your hand.
I shudder in my loneliness and feel cut off from your
community,
but I cannot hide from your pursuing, persistent love.
Where can I flee from your presence?
In the darkest corner of the earth, you are there.
Thank you, God, for seeking me out, for refusing to
permit my guilt, my shame, my sin to rule my life.
When I hide my hurt and cut off my pain from my
consciousness, you open the wound,
let the poison drain, and apply a healing balm.
I, who am a half-person searching for wholeness,
integrity, and peace,
discover in your warm acceptance my holiness
and my self-worth.
I thank you, God, that in becoming one with Christ
I become one with myself.
Your Spirit completes my personality, fills my
emptiness, rubs smooth the rough spots of my
selfishness, self-justification, pride, prejudice,
and fear.
Your Spirit opens up my tight spaces to feel the
freedom of the skies,
the hope of the morning sun,
the joy of the after-rain color.
Father of my faith, Mother of my life, friend, and
Lord, hear my prayer! Amen.
Personal Prayer (5)
It's been good to spend the day with you, Lord,
to admire your arching red rock
emerging from the desert,
to experience for myself
what others told me.
The telling may be good,
the experience better!
How grateful I am, Lord, that you gave us
more than story.
You gave us yourself!
You came to me in the shadow of my awareness,
in the darkness of my doubt,
in the endless abyss of my fear.
You have become for me an undeniable presence,
a reliable friend,
the one who walks in
when the rest of the world
walks away. Amen.
and forget to pray.
And how like you, O Lord, to smile at that
knowing me better than I know myself.
How seldom do I find the time,
make the time,
take the time,
to spend time with you?
How often do you come to me
tugging at my shirt sleeve,
bumping into my heart,
nudging at my conscience?
I don't know if it's prayer,
but we do communicate,
don't we?
We do find a way to keep in touch,
to stay together,
to move through each day with hope,
to sing a song of love,
to enter stumbling, shaking
into the suffering of another.
It's a way of praying continuously,
constantly, with each trembling thought,
each warm desire,
to do it your way,
to follow where you lead,
to go where you send me. Amen.
Personal Prayer (2)
O Silent and Mysterious God, forgive my doubts and
impatience.
For I sometimes yearn for a loud, aggressive God:
one who will shame the thoughtless and humiliate the proud
with a strong arm of power.
And sometimes I want to know the secret of all things and to
demand justification for the things I don't understand.
I want a reason for chilling winters that slay the sick and old;
I insist on an explanation for the sudden dismantling of a
relationship through death or disloyalty;
I seek to know why children flirt with drug addiction or
become enslaved to alcohol;
I wonder why the mean, callous, and cunning always seem to
come out on top,
while the winsome, kind, and decent people die in the prime of
life;
and I want to know why people must so often suffer the last
years of their lives alone or incapacitated.
I want answers!
... not faith.
I want a puppet who jumps to the yank of my indignation,
not a God who calls me to obedience and faithfulness.
Restore within me a humble and contrite heart,
faith in your wisdom, acceptance of your will
and trust in the ultimate purpose and aim of a God who
shows power in powerlessness by allowing your only Son to
become the victim of hatred, prejudice, and pride -- all in the name of love.
Forgive me, Great God of Life, for entertaining false gods
and make me ever thankful for the living witness
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Personal Prayer (3)
Deliver me, O God, from my self-imposed limitations.
Deliver me from that which keeps me down or holds
me back,
from that which chips away at my self-confidence,
from that which obstructs or aborts the birth of your
gift of life and hope in my heart.
May I find the courage to release the powers within,
to throw off the shackles of shame and timidity,
to walk with faith instead of fear.
May I dare to become what you created me to be
and to strive always for "the more excellent way."
May the word, "Yes," replace my, "Not yet";
the affirmation, "All things are possible with God,"
dislodge my rationalizations, my clinging to the
familiar, the safe, the well-worn.
O God, who makes all things new, transform my
trembling will into the smiling confidence of one
who lives not for oneself but for your Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Personal Prayer (4)
God of Grace, when I stumble I look for your hand.
I shudder in my loneliness and feel cut off from your
community,
but I cannot hide from your pursuing, persistent love.
Where can I flee from your presence?
In the darkest corner of the earth, you are there.
Thank you, God, for seeking me out, for refusing to
permit my guilt, my shame, my sin to rule my life.
When I hide my hurt and cut off my pain from my
consciousness, you open the wound,
let the poison drain, and apply a healing balm.
I, who am a half-person searching for wholeness,
integrity, and peace,
discover in your warm acceptance my holiness
and my self-worth.
I thank you, God, that in becoming one with Christ
I become one with myself.
Your Spirit completes my personality, fills my
emptiness, rubs smooth the rough spots of my
selfishness, self-justification, pride, prejudice,
and fear.
Your Spirit opens up my tight spaces to feel the
freedom of the skies,
the hope of the morning sun,
the joy of the after-rain color.
Father of my faith, Mother of my life, friend, and
Lord, hear my prayer! Amen.
Personal Prayer (5)
It's been good to spend the day with you, Lord,
to admire your arching red rock
emerging from the desert,
to experience for myself
what others told me.
The telling may be good,
the experience better!
How grateful I am, Lord, that you gave us
more than story.
You gave us yourself!
You came to me in the shadow of my awareness,
in the darkness of my doubt,
in the endless abyss of my fear.
You have become for me an undeniable presence,
a reliable friend,
the one who walks in
when the rest of the world
walks away. Amen.
