FCCR-ACE Prayer Blog

Congregationalists Learning to Pray

Hi God,

Today’s Epistle o’ day said,
among other things,
    ”…the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace
    for those who cultivate peace.”
I’m not sure what this means,
bit I think it might be something good.
I don’t much care about righteousness
probably because I don’t know
what it means to be righteous,
and probably because I can’t imagine
I’d manage to be righteous in any event.
But I do think that cultivating peace
might be a fun thing to try.
Any ideas how I go about that?

My friend Roy says that
one can’t achieve enlightenment
if one strives for enlightenment.
Does peace work that way too?
If we strive for peace,
does that mean peace won’t happen.
It seems to me that a lot of folks
are busy striving for non-peace,
and they’re being quite successful.

So my prayer today
is that you give us a clue,
the merest soupçon of a hint,
as to how we cultivate peace..
Baring that, the merest glimpse
of what peace might be like would be nice.
In any event, I ask you
to please have mercy on my soul,
agitated sinner that I be.

Amen

scripture reference
James 3:18

Hi God,

As you know,
I’m off in the morning
to visit my mother.
I pray for a safe trip
and that I find her in good spirits.
Communication is getting difficult:
101-year old ears
are not particularly acute.
Help me to retain patience,
and to remember that my presence
is worth more than my words.

Also, please have mercy on my soul
impatient sinner though I be.

Amen

Getting a slow start on prayer discipline, God.
But, you know me and my good intentions…
Why do you have such infinite patience with me?
When I promise myself, and you,
that I will try harder to live a more healthy,
faithfull, vibrant life, to honor you,
why don’t you throw down a thunder bolt to remind me
that I’m doing it again, slouching, being lazy,
taking the low road through life?
You certainly are a more tolerant parent than
I would be in your sandles.
Loving God, help me, today, to remember
your son’s leadings and
to try, yet again, as best
my sorry soul is able, to follow…
even for a day…..
amen

Hi God,

Sometimes I wonder
about people I don’t really know.
I know of them,
but don’t really know them.
So does it help them
if I pray for them anyway?
Are you more likely to help them
if you know more people care,
even people who don’t know them?

So my prayer today is to ask
that you do look in on these people,
to send your spirit to them
to provide them comfort and strength:
e.g. a guy named Tim,
who has some unspecified family crisis—
I’m guessing with an adolescent step son,
but I really have no idea—,
and a woman named Pat
who is leaving the East coast,
after having lived here
for well over 50 years,
to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest;
and of course the gazillion people of Haiti,
who not only have tragedies by the bushel full,
caused by natural disasters,
but who also are stigmatized
by people, who claim to follow your way,
who insist the Haitians deserve their fate,
because of alleged devil worship
several centuries ago.
There are many others,
but you know them better than I.

I also ask you, please,
to have mercy on my soul,
clueless sinner though I be.

Amen

Hi God,

Do you remember
how hard I tried
to write a prayer
each.and.every.day
during Lent last year?

Some how, I don’t think
I’m going to come close this year.
But at least I’ll begin,
and deal with tomorrow another time.
Isn’t there something in the Bible
about delaying worry
about what might happen tomorrow
until tomorrow becomes today?

So my prayer today
is that You help us backsliders
to remain faithful
despite the distractions or doubts
that inevitably creep
into our streams of conscious.

Also, I ask that you
have mercy on my soul,
backsliding sinner though I be.

Amen