What’s your prayer? If you had to write a prayer to encapsulate this season, what would you include? Joy and celebration? Petition and lament? Would you want to pray for yourself, your family, and friends? Can you also pray for your enemies? Would you pray for racial justice? For the election? Seriously — give it some thought. Ask God to help you. Take a look at the prayers below. Then put pen to paper, write your prayer down, and keep it in your Bible or by your bedside to pray each and every day through the month of October. Such focus and repetition can be a really good thing; it keeps our minds from wandering too widely and lead us more deeply into life with Christ.
One of the reasons I love the Psalms is because they are a collection of prayers. These were literally the words of David and other members of God’s people, Israel, as they walked with the Lord. Some of the prayers are happy; some of the prayers are sad. Some of the prayers are prim and proper; others are raw and unchained. Yet they are all included. They are all welcomed. Because they are all honest. Which is how we should pray: with honesty before the Lord.
We know that Jesus prayed the Psalms. Growing up in a traditional Jewish community meant he would have learned them from an early age. He would have studied in the synagogue and on the way to the Temple in Jerusalem. The prayers of his people would have traveled through his ears to sink deep into his heart. We see this in Scripture, of course. The Psalms issued forth in Jesus’ life and teachings and, most notably, in his cries from the cross. Indeed, is it any wonder that the Word Made Flesh would be filled to overflowing by the written Word of God?
Which means Jesus also knows something about lament. Lament — there’s that word again. If you’ve been listening on Sunday mornings, then it will not be new to you. The Psalms of Lament comprise a good portion of the book of Psalms, and I am preaching on a handful of them this fall. While we often want to avoid them, these prayers are so important. They teach us how to sidestep denial, despair, and defensiveness and how to fill our lives with humility and hope. Ultimately, they help us find our way to Jesus, the One who has already found his way to us.
No one can deny that we are living in lamentable times. The stress of politics, the coronavirus, and culture at large has gotten everyone down. Yet there is a way forward. And it’s the way of prayer in Jesus’ name. As we pray in and through Christ, we are opened up to see things in a whole new way. Let’s commit to praying together in this strange yet significant season, trusting that the Lord is at work to renew our hearts and remake the world — and, if we let him, he will show us our part to play.
Yours in Christ,
Blake
Sermon Scriptures for October
10/4/2020 - Psalm 32
10/11/2020 - Psalm 38
10/18/2020 - Psalm 39
10/25/2020 - Psalm 44
Prayers for this Season (in addition to the Psalms)
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.
The Prayer of Saint Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Prayer for Serenity
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;
taking, as Jesus did,
this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;
trusting that you will make all things right
if I surrender to your will;
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with you forever in the next. Amen.
– Reinhold Niebuhr
Prayer at the Time of an Election
Under your law we live, great God, and by your will we govern ourselves. Help us as good citizens to respect neighbors whose views differ from ours, so that without partisan anger, we may work out issues that divide us, and elect candidates to serve the common welfare; through Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.
– From The Book of Common Worship, PCUSA
Prayer for Responsible Citizenship
Lord, keep this nation under your care. Bless the leaders of our land, that we may be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to other nations of the earth. Help us elect trustworthy leaders, contribute to wise decisions for the general welfare, and thus serve you faithfully in our generation, to the honor of your holy name; through Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.
– From The Book of Common Worship, PCUSA
