Prayer & Praise
We pray as often as we meet,
that we might “perfectly love you.”
Indeed, we have been commanded from the beginning,
to love you with all our hearts and
all our souls and
all our minds and
all our strength.
We have pledged to love,
pledged in our prayers and in our baptism,
in our confirmation and with our best resolve.
But we confess . . .
we love you imperfectly;
we love you with a divded heart,
with a thousand other loves
that are more compelling
with reservation and qualification,
and passion withheld and
devotion impaired.
We do not now come to pretend before you,
but to confess that we do not,
as we are,
love you perfectly;
we do not keep your commands;
we do not order our lives by your purpose;
we do not tilt toward you as our deepest affection.
But we would . . .
we would love you more perfectly,
by the taste of bread become your flesh,
by the swallow of wine become your blood,
by the praise of our lips and beyond our usual reasoning,
by the commandments that are not burden but joy to us,
by embracing your passion for neighbors,
by your ways of justice and peace and mercy,
by honoring the world you have made
and all creatures great and small,
by self-care that knows you as our creator.
Lead us past our shabby compromises
and our cheap devotion;
lead us into singleness of vision
and purity of heart,
that we may will one thing,
and answer back in love to your great love to us.
Free us from idolatries
and out habits of recalcitrance
tender our hearts,
gentle our lips,
open our hands,
that we may turn toward you fully
toward your world unguardedly.
Let us bask in your freedom
to be fully your, and
so trusting fully our own.
We pray through the Lord Jesus who loved you
singularly, perfectly, fully—to the end.
Walter Brueggemann
need prayer cover over negotiations as my house is now under contract – the buyer is an older woman who has been through the ordeal of losing her husband 2 years ago to Alzheimers and both agents observe, “she deserves this house” – it will be quite a move up in lifestyle for her … now i am a bit subtle about my Faith, but it is out there for all to see and even though this woman may deserve this house, i am losing quite a bit of money in the sale, pray that i will not dishonor the Lord and i will see clearly where and if to hold the line on my end of this
the praise will come, when my things are tucked into storage and i hand over the keys here – or not
Praying for you “ITC”. And I want yo remind you that you deserve a fair price for your house every bit as much as the other lady deserves a lovely house . May God bless you both .
praying. and agreeing with Nonnie.
FTC, praying here too.
I am in a profoundly difficult season.
Prayers are appreciated.
praying that Michael loses the difficulties and keeps the profound – Lord, You know
Lord, You know just how stretched one can be before there’s nothing left to stretch. We plead on behalf of Michael for a merciful relief, knowing You have him in your Eye.
Praying
Thank you…blessings to you all.
Praying for you, Michael.
praying
Hi All–I haven’t commented in a long time, but have checked in frequently.
Could I trouble you for prayer? I need some relief at work and wisdom in how to deal with some difficult situations. Not sleeping much and it’s getting to me. Thanks so much.
Linnea,
I hear you…praying, my friend.
Ditto, praying
praying here, too
my house gets a structural and pest inspection this weekend, which, if the buyer accepts, i’ll have just 3 weeks to get my stuff in order and move out, so if i post strangely here or not at all, i’ll still be praying the list as i pack
God keep all close, giving wisdom, strengthened and comforted in confidence in Himself
praying here.
Linnea,
Privileged to pray for you.
I found this quote from someone on my FB page and thought it was worth sharing. Lord, fill each of us with your kindness and love. Pray that I’ll be more patient and less harsh. Thank you.
“When love encounters impenitence, love weeps while shaking the dust off its feet. Love doesn’t go to war. It doesn’t badger. It doesn’t shout. It doesn’t scream for everyone to fix their eyes on the sin that’s already been made as public as it can be.
“Love doesn’t continually appoint itself to the task of penning another epistle of rebuke. It doesn’t repeatedly provide online fuel for those who easily explode in anger and cruelty. Love doesn’t seek to stir up more anger.”
Thank you all so much for prayer– still in the midst of upheaval, but praying that God makes something good of a bad situation.
Michael, praying for peace and relief for you, too.
From this Corner…praying that your house inspection goes well and that the move is smooth and as stress free as possible.