FCCR-ACE Prayer Blog

Congregationalists Learning to Pray

Hi God,

Today, I saw that, once again,
our daffodils were beginning
to poke up through the leaves.
That seemed like a nice reminder
that things change and stay the same.
Then things went downhill after that.

So my prayer today is to ask you
to help us remember
that even when things appear
to be going downhill,
it’s just another instance
of things changing and staying the same.
Perhaps then, going downhill
won’t hold such sway.

Also, I ask you, please,
to have mercy on my soul,
fretful sinner though I be.

Amen

Hi God,

According to today’s
Epistle o’ Day,
old Peter got himself pretty exercised
over false prophets and false teachers.
It seems, even back in the day,
“there was nothing new under the sun”.
Peter claims false prophets
had been around centuries before him,
and, apparently, were continuing
to do a fine business during his day.
Which is to say,
the Elmer Gantry’s of this world,
much like the poor, it seems,
have, and continue to be,
always been with us.

In another week,
we celebrate, if you can use that word,
the seventh anniversary
of the invasion of Iraq,
something that I never thought
made much sense at the time.
I still don’t see how it made sense.

My problem today,
comes with the mash up of the above two threads:
I don’t think that invasion would ever have happened
had not Christians in the U.S. ardently supported it.
Thus I have a quandary,
either my perceptions have been clouded
by some kind of false-prophet-induced heresy,
some fundamental misunderstanding
that I picked up in Sunday School,
or else a large fraction of my fellow Christians
have suffered that fate.
Either way, it seems,
we’ve got lots of false prophets,
and false teachers,
feeding some group of us
a load of bunk.

So my prayer today
is to ask you to speak a bit more plainly.
As things currently stand,
your message for us
appears to be falling on too many deaf ears.
Those of us who are falling for the bunk
need a clearer understanding.
It would be a true blessing if, as Peter exhorts us
that we “all…be of one mind,
sympathetic, loving toward one another…”
We’re not going to achieve that vision,
if we can’t agree on the virtue, or lack thereof,
involved in something so simple as the invasion of Iraq.

I also ask you, please,
to have mercy of my soul,
conflicted sinner though I be.

Amen

Scripture References
2 Peter 2
1 Peter 3:3

Hi God,

As I’m sure you’re aware,
I’ve not much use for winter.
I must admit, however,
that the winter stars
are a whole lot nicer
than those we see in summer.
This winter, we have the added bonus
of two planets. Niiiiiice!
Thank you.

Amen

A prayer of thanks for light.
Spring must be coming, as the days are lengthening
and the nights are shortening.
I feel so much more energetic when there is light.

So, does it follow that, since you are the light of the world,
I should feel more alive when I think of you?
Sounds logical and, if I could sustain my remembering,
I might even be able to quantify the theory.
I believe I have felt more enlivened when I have
been more mindful of you in the past.
Would it work now, in my dotage?
Guess I might give it an intentional try, if I can
sustain my memory or you light in my life
for any length of time.

God, help me to see your light shine around me
in the days ahead, and help me grow in response.

amen

Hi God,

As you no doubt know,
I talk to the dogs on our daily
gulag death marches™.
At one point I asked Brewster,
“why am I talking to you?”
Naturally, he responded to me
with a silent, toothy grin.
It’s not clear he understood anything.
Edamame doesn’t even pretend.

It got me thinking…
If, as the banner on our church says,
“God is Still Speaking”,
do you ask yourself why you bother?
It seems to me that a lot of us folks aren’t listening.
A lot of the folks
whom I would categorize
as being non-listeners,
claim they are your followers,
that they obey your holy Word.
So, does that mean they didn’t understand,
or is it simply that I don’t understand?
One way or another,
a lot of us aren’t understanding
what you have to tell us
any better than Brewster and Edame
understand what I say to them.

So my prayer today
is that you help those of us
who appear to be hearing impaired
to hear your Word more clearly.
This might also mean
that you will have to help us remember
to listen once in a while.

Also, please have mercy on my soul,
hearing-impaired sinner though I be.

Amen