Lord, teach me your way

A prayer

Lord,
teach me your way of treating others –
sinners, children, Pharisees, Pilates and Herods,
and also John the Baptists.

Teach me your way of eating and drinking,
and how to act when I’m tired from work and need rest.

Teach me compassion for the suffering, the poor, the blind, and the lame.
You who shed tears, show me how to live my deepest emotions.
Above all, I want to learn how you endured your Cross.

Teach me your way of looking at people:
the way you glanced at Peter after his denial,
the way you touched the heart of the rich young man
and the hearts of your disciples.

I would like to meet you as you really are,
since you change those who really know you.
If only I could hear you speak
as when you spoke in the synagogue of Capernaum
or on the Mount of Beatitudes!

Give me grace to live my life, within and without,
the way you lived your life, O Lord. Amen.

 
— written by Pedro Arrupe, SJ, posted on re:worship

From the blog
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My way to you


 

A prayer

based on ‘Suscipe me’,
a prayer made by a novice on entering a Benedictine Community

 
Accept me, O Lord,
just as I am,
in my frailty,
my inadequacy,
my contradictions
     and my confusions.

Accept me,
with all those discordant currents
     that pull me in so many directions.

Accept all of this,
and help me so to live with what I am,
that what I am
     may become my way to you.

 
from The Book of a Thousand Prayers by Angela Ashwin, #935

Restless / restore
Weep with those who weep
Up to us
 

In the Jesus Way we pray


 

The Lord’s Prayer (a paraphrase)

based on Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4

O God, you love us like a good parent,
      and are present in every aspect of our existence.
May your nature become known and respected by all.
May your joy, peace, wholeness and justice
      be the reality for everyone
            as we live by the Jesus Way.
Give us all that we really need to live every day for you.
And forgive us our failures as we forgive others for their failures.
Keep us from doing those things which are not of you,
      and cause us always to be centred on your love.
For you are the true reality in this our now,
      and in all our future.
In the Jesus Way we pray.
 
~ by D. Sorril, posted on re:worship

From the blog
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3 Prayers to our Father
Theme: Change my heart, O God  [prayer sheet]
 

One body, different gifts

 

We have different gifts,
        according to the grace given to each of us.

If your gift is prophesying,
        then prophesy in accordance with your faith;
if it is serving,
        then serve;
if it is teaching,
        then teach;
if it is to encourage,
        then give encouragement;
if it is giving,
        then give generously;
if it is to lead,
        do it diligently;
if it is to show mercy,
        do it cheerfully.

 

Prayer of Confession

God you have given each of us many gifts,
but sometimes we cannot recognize
what gift we have to share,
so we hide it under a bushel.

God you remind us that all gifts are needed,
but sometimes we let ourselves be convinced
that some gifts are more special than others.

God you call us to work, to live, to love together as parts of one body,
but sometimes we decide that membership in the body
is limited by our understandings.

God, for the times we have ignored or mislabeled Your gifts,
for those times we have cut another off from the body,
We offer words of repentance,
we ask for forgiveness and grace.

… time of silent prayer …

Words of Assurance/Forgiveness

God is the giver of MANY gifts.
God is the Creator of the ONE body.
God is slow to anger and quick to forgive.
God helps us to share and honour the gifts of all,
God helps us to heal the wounds and reunite the body.
We are forgiven, loved, and accepted.
Thanks be to God! Alleluia! Amen

 
~ by Rev Gord, posted on re:worship
 

From the blog
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We are a body
Circle me, Lord
 

Gift to give


 

A prayer

Lord, take as your right,
and receive as my gift,
all my freedom, my memory,
my understanding and my will.
Whatever I am and whatever I possess,
you have given to me;
I restore it all to you again,
to be at your disposal,
according to your will.
Give me only a love for you,
and the gift of your grace;
then I am rich enough,
and ask for nothing more.
 

~ St Ingatius Loyola (1491-1556)
from The Book of a Thousand Prayers by Angela Ashwin, #27
 

From the blog
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Great gift

Pentecost prayer

based on Acts 2:1-13

Holy Spirit of God,
great gift of our exalted Lord,
on the day of Pentecost you came to the Church
as he promised, to abide with us for ever.

Come to us in your grace and power today,
to make Jesus real to us,
to teach us more about him,
and to deepen our trust in him;
that we may be changed into his likeness
and be his witnesses in the world,
to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

 
~ author unknown, posted on re:worship

FROM THE BLOG

The Gift booklet
a 12-part series of readings and prayer poems on the Holy Spirit

Thy Kingdom Come: join in and join us
 

Thy Kingdom Come: join in and join us


 

THY KINGDOM COME | 9 to 19 May 2024

Christians around the world are invited to join this prayer movement that happens each year between Ascension Day and Pentecost Sunday. You too can get involved. Simply choose five people who do not yet know the love of God for themselves and pray for them each day.

On the website of Thy Kingdom Come you can download a Prayer Journal and other resources to support you in your prayers.

COME TOGETHER ONLINE

The International Presbytery is hosting two short online prayer gatherings to coincide with Thy Kingdom Come (30 minutes max).

  • Ascension Thursday, 9 May, 10 am (CET)
  • Pentecost Monday, 20 May, 10 am (CET)

A zoom link will be posted on the Presbytery website if you’d like to attend:
www.internationalpresbytery.org/events
 

From the blog
Ask and receive
3 Prayers to our Father
The wonder of Pentecost
 

Love planting

 
A sixth-century Jewish rabbi wrote, “God, from the very beginning of creation, was occupied before all else with planting, as it is written, ‘And first of all, the Eternal God planted a Garden in Eden.’ Therefore occupy yourselves first and foremost with planting.”

Lord, give us humility to remember that we are made from dirt so that we might till the dirt and love it as we love ourselves. Amen.

 
from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Enuma Okoro, p. 249

From the blog
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Planted together


 

Prayer of Confession

(based on Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)

Merciful God, you plant each of us like seeds in the same field and together we are nourished and nurtured by the sun. We sway in the wind and are refreshed by the rain. We are blessed by the knowledge that you want us to grow towards what you call us to be.

When we deprive others of that same opportunity,
forgive us.

When we want to uproot those whom we believe
do not belong in our part of the field,
forgive us.

When we label others as good or bad
rather than accept them for who they are,
forgive us.

When we are reluctant to acknowledge
that we ourselves are a mixture of weeds and wheat,
forgive us.

When we are afraid to look into the fields of our own lives
to see what is growing there,
forgive us.

O God, you know us inside and out, through and through.
You search us out and lay your hand upon us.
You know what we are going to say even before we speak.
So we pray that you will help us to reach out to the uprooted and rejected,
the lonely and the outcast,
and to develop and grow the good in ourselves, in others and in the world.
This we pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen

~ by Moira Laidlaw, posted on re:worship

From the blog
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Pots and plants


Geraniums in my kitchen garden
 

A meditation

How hard it is to know
when the pot is too small for the plant.
Some plants need to be contained, held very close.
Others cannot be crowded.
I don’t know when I myself am too pot-bound,
lacking courage to be replanted,
to take the shock of new soil,
to feel into the unknown and to take root in it.

This drying out, this self-crowding
sneaks up on me. It seems I must always feel
a little wilted or deadened before I know
I’m too pot-bound.

This african violet must first be cut
and divided. The knife goes through the root.
The white flesh exposed and moist
looks as if it is bleeding.
It must have soil immediately
so the plant won’t die.
Then water. Water taken in from below.
This water must seep up into the plant
by infusion. Then comes the waiting
as the shock registers.
Days and weeks of waiting.

It will be months before a new leaf appears.
Perhaps the plant won’t make it.
So it is when the time comes for me to be cut
and divided so as to grow again.

Help me to see this not as a problem
but as a process. Help me surrender
to the growth that only comes with pain,
with division, with helplessness, with waiting.
Especially the days and weeks of waiting.

 
from Being Home: A book of meditations by Gunilla Norris, p.32-33

From the blog
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