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Prayer List
Friends,
We continue to meditate on the Lord's Prayer.
In the gospel of Luke, the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. Jesus teaches them the prayer that we know as the Lord's Prayer. This gospel story intimates that prayer changes us - it grounds us in the knowledge of God's love for us; it gives us hope and a direction as we strive to engage in God's mission of loving and transforming the world into a place of abundance for all creation (cf. Luke 11:1-13).
As promised, I'll be checking in weekly to see how your prayer meditation is going and offering examples of prayers/meditations on the various petitions of the Lord's Prayer. Today's example is from a meditation on the Lord's Prayer by Pope Francis offered at the Orthodox Cathedral in Bucharest, Romania in 2019.
Each day we need God, our daily bread. God is the bread of life (cf. Jn 6:35.48) that makes us realize that we are beloved children, and makes us feel no longer isolated and orphaned. God is the bread of service, broken to serve us, and asking us in turn to serve one another (cf. Jn 13:14). Divine Parent*, as you give us our daily bread, strengthen us to reach out and serve our siblings.
And as we ask you for our daily bread, we ask also for the bread of memory, the grace to nurture the shared roots of our Christian identity, so indispensable in an age when humanity, and the young in particular, tend to feel rootless amid the uncertainties of life, and incapable of building their lives on a solid foundation.
The bread that we ask begins with a seed, slowly grows into an ear of grain, is then harvested and is finally brought to our table. May it inspire us to be patient cultivators of communion, tireless in sowing seeds of unity, encouraging goodness, working constantly at the side of our siblings in Christ. Without suspicion or reserve, without pressuring or demanding uniformity, in the familial joy of a reconciled diversity.
The bread we ask today is also the bread of which so many people today are lacking, while a few have more than enough. The Lord's Prayer is a prayer that leaves us troubled and crying out in protest against the famine of love in our time, against the individualism and indifference that profane your name, Divine Parent. Help us to hunger to give freely of ourselves. Remind us, whenever we pray, that life is not about keeping ourselves comfortable but about letting ourselves be broken; not about accumulating but about sharing; not about eating to our heart’s content but about feeding others. Prosperity is only prosperity if it embraces everyone.
*I've changed Father to Divine Parent to remind us that God has no gender.
As you pray, I invite you to use your own words... think about who God is for you, how you experience God...
Feel free to share your thoughts or questions with me. Look forward to seeing what may happen when we create space for God's Spirit in our lives.
Blessings on this journey!
This week we pray for:
Caryl Slater
Prayers for healing and comfort for Caryl who is dealing with health challenges.
Barbara Mykkanen
Continued prayers for healing and comfort for Barb during her chemo treatment for uterine and ovarian cancers.
Debbie Hostettler
Continued prayers, love and support for Debbie throughout the remaining chemo treatments. She is experiencing a lot of fatigue.
Ferenc, Pastor Enikö's dad
Prayers for healing as Ferenc recovers from Covid.
We pray for
- for our young campers that they grow in love and kindness; for the helpers who make this week meaningful and fun for all;
- for those who have lost lives, homes, and livelihoods due to wildfires, flooding, storms, and oppressive heat;
- for new life and new growth where creation is ravaged;
- for those dealing with illness, or facing limitations and decline in their health and abilities;
- for peace and an end to violence—in Ukraine, in Afghanistan, in Haiti—and everywhere safety is scarce;
- for elected leaders to listen to the people and govern for the common good;
- for trust in God’s promises and provision, that God’s steadfast presence and love can see us through challenges and struggles, disappointment and uncertainty. We trust in God!
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