My prayer life could use a tune-up. Or maybe even an overhaul. I’ve read books on prayer, listened to well-versed speakers talk about a healthy prayer life, and thought about the topic often and (hopefully) discerningly.
As in many other life subjects, good examples are often ways to jumpstart a new way of thinking, of doing. With that in mind, here are some prayers (with credit due to the writers) that have spoken to me recently.
Episcopal Advent prayer:
Loving God, we open ourselves to you this day. Light our lives with your imagination. Show us the creative power of hope. Teach us the peace that comes from justice. Fill us with the kind of joy that cannot be contained but must be shared. Magnify your love within us. Prepare our hearts to be transformed by you that we may walk in the light of Christ. Amen.
Pastor David McGee:
Dear God, thank You for new beginnings. What an incredible day this is with a fresh year’s potential stretched out before me. I want to be found faithful this year in each and every opportunity You bring to me. Thank You, Lord, for new beginnings. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
A Christmas card from Renewing Faith:
My prayer for you this Christmas and the whole year through is that God would shower you with His perfect gifts of peace, hope, and love. May you see His hand at work in all you do and know. You are His beloved child. Amen.
Pope John XXIII:
Consult not your fears, but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern not yourself with what you tried and failed in, but what it is still possible to do. Now is the time to put aside past and present setbacks and failures and look with confidence to the new day called tomorrow. Amen.
Sister Mary Ann Barret, O.P.
We Pray…
For healing…prepare us for surprises.
For strength…prepare us for surprises.
For vision…prepare us for surprises.
For transformation…prepare us for surprises.
For messengers and messages…prepare us for surprises.
For community…prepare us for surprises.
For acceptance – of ourselves and others…prepare us for surprises.
For making room at our tables…prepare us for surprises.
For truth-seeking…prepare us for surprises.
For support…prepare us for surprises.
For Common Ground…prepare us for surprises.Walk beside us, O Holy One,
as we question and welcome,
as we challenge and invite,
as we discover and understand,
as we see, touch, taste, smell, and listen for the newness awaiting us in 2023.May we, Your holy people, walk forward together, side by side. Amen.
I had never thought to ask God to prepare me for surprises. But I am embracing that prayer!
