Lent – Wandering and Wondering

An Easter Blessing / Devotional

I thought this was such a wonderful idea that I asked the deacon of my church if I could share it. She said, “of course!”

At each of our deacon meetings, we start with a devotional or simple prayer. She entwined the two by having us each choose an egg. Inside each egg was a delicious piece of chocolate or jelly beans and a tiny little scroll that she tied closed with a piece of the green grass.

On each of the small scrolls was a line of blessing that when read in any order created a beautiful prayer.

It didn’t matter if all the eggs were taken or only some. It didn’t matter who started or who ended. The prayer in the form of a blessing just continued to unfold.

What blessings can you think of:

May we . . . .

May God . . . .

May the world . . .

More Lenten Prayers

Call to Worship
Pastor: In the tiredness of the day, Lord,
People: you are there.
Pastor: In the weakness of my soul, Lord,
People: you give me strength.
Pastor: In the chaos of the world, Lord,
People: you ground me and give me courage.
Pastor: You, O Lord, are our ever-present help. Let us rejoice and praise you.

Invocation
Holy One, Meet us here and give us insight to the world and to ourselves so that we can navigate our lives and interactions in a way pleasing to you and to the benefit of all. Help us find balance in the imbalance. Help us find calm in the storm. Be our anchor and our rudder. AMEN

Pastoral Prayer

God who created and cares for each one of us,

We reach to you today to leave at your feet the prayers we hold that are too heavy to bear. Prayers of the hurting, the persecuted, the tired, and the tormented.

We seek your balm to help offer comfort to those who live too often in discomfort.

We seek your peace to soothe the agitated and anxious.

We seek your healing to bring heath and recovery to those who are in physical and mental pain.

Bring healing, peace, and your balm to all who need – those who are both known to us and unknown to us. Search our hearts for the names of those we know, who need you this day and inspire us to care for those whom you know and we may not.

May your grace pour upon all who are in need.

And now let us pray in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together saying:

The Lord’s Prayer

Unison Prayer of Illumination

God, Sometimes we trust our eyes and our mind too much.

Sometimes we let what we believe we know override what you know to be true.

Help us to set down our preconceived perceptions and release our understanding of the world so that your truth may be revealed.

Let us release our expectations so that you can show us your way.

Let us open our heart and hear today’s sacred text. AMEN

Invitation to share

Peter showed Jesus his trust by stepping out of the boat. When do we step out of the boat? When do we begin to let go of control? When do we let “Jesus take the wheel” as Carrie Underwood once sang? One place we can do that is through practicing our generosity. We can open our hands and our hearts and trust that God will meet us there. As you open your hands today to release your offering to God, ponder what you have now made room for.

Unison Prayer of Dedication

God of Grace and hope, Too often we give limitedly, fearful of what giving too much might mean for us. Sometimes, we give just enough for people to notice so that we are seen as generous people. Today though, let us give what is right and good. Let us feel a bit of a pinch as we let go so that we can learn to trust and let us celebrate the fact that we are blessed to be able to give. Accept all that we give and encourage us to give even more through service. AMEN

More Lenten Prayers

Call to Worship: (based on Psalm 46)

Pastor: God is our refuge and strength

People: Our ever-present help in times of trouble

Pastor: When the mountains shake and waters roar,

People: we ground ourselves in the hope of our creator.

Pastor: When nations are in an uproar and kingdoms totter,

People: we receive our strength and courage from the one who created all.

Pastor: Come let us find our sacred center as we worship God together.

Invocation

Holy One, We’re gathered here a little unbalanced. The world feels askew. We’re gathered here a little imbalanced. We feel a little askew. Meet us here and give us insight so that we can navigate this world in a way pleasing to you and to the benefit of all. AMEN

Pastoral Prayer

Holy One,

As we tear down the walls of our heart and stretch the limits of our compassion,

we seek to hold in our prayer those who we often overlook or ignore.

We pray for those who we have never seen: our neighbors far away.

We pray for those who are most different from us by language, culture, or faith.

We pray for those who we walk by daily, but perhaps do not notice – – –

the person who serves us coffee,

the one who rings us out at the grocery store or packs our groceries.

We pray for the bank teller and the telemarketer.

We pray for the farmer who seeded our dinner into the ground

and the truck driver who brought it near to us.

We pray for those who line our roads and empty our garbage cans.

We pray for the librarian and news broadcaster on the radio.

We pray for those who often go unseen – – –

the 911 dispatcher,

the night clerk at the 24 hour convenience store,

the school custodian,

the cleaning people in our office.

God, there are so many that escape our notice,

but we know they do not go out of your vision or care.

May you continue to pour your love upon them

and may you help us to stop and see and listen to their trouble or tragedy.

Let us remember our connection to the whole.

We also, O God, have those who we do know that we wish to lift up. Hear now their names:

<have people speak names aloud popcorn style>

Be with them in their time of need. Embrace them in your constant grace. Grant them the peace of recognizing your presence.

We pray all of this in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together saying:

The Lord’s Prayer that is used in your setting.

Unison Prayer of Dedication

Generous God, Take these gifts that have been gathered. Bless them and return them into a wanting world. May these financial gifts be just one way that we seek to co-create with you. AMEN

Lenten Prayers

Call to Worship (based on Psalm 51 & 103)

Pastor: We come to you, O Lord, imperfect, but hungry.

People: We trust in your steadfast love and take hope in your abundant mercy.

Pastor: We turn to you, O Lord, recognizing that too often we turn away.

People: We trust that indeed you are merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in compassion and lovingkindness.

Pastor: We desire, O Lord, your wisdom in our inmost heart.

People: We open ourselves to you.

Invocation

Creator, Meet us here. Meet us now. Walk with us on our Lenten Journey. Continue to create us and form us in your likeness. Let our very being act as an offering to you. AMEN

Unison Prayer of Blessing for Communion

Holy Spirit, we invite you here into our midst. Bless this bread and this juice that in receiving it, we might know you better. In drinking and eating, we might see more clearly. In being filled, we might also become more hungry. AMEN

Unison Prayer of Thanksgiving for Communion

Unison Prayer of Thanksgiving: (DMA – shared)

Holy One, you accept us as we are. You invite us to your table. You make space for all. Your gracious love astounds us. It humbles us. We pray that we might live lives worthy of your generosity. Receive our thanksgiving and our praise. AMEN

Prayer of Illumination

Yesterday, we spoke literally about Illuminating the Word. Today, we are talking about illuminating the word in a more figurative sense; that is, making the reading of the Biblical text more clear and understandable.

I don’t remember growing up with a Prayer of Illumination as part of our liturgy; instead, I was introduced to this prayer when I was working in partnership with two other pastors as part of our joint planning. It was a prayer that Pastor Kathy used regularly in her liturgy and so we all agreed to use it in our planning.

Since then, I have found that this Prayer of Illumination is much like the ancient practice of Illuminating the Word through drawing. It focuses us in and gives proper attention to the importance of text. The Feasting on the Word Worship Companions include such a prayer in their liturgies and you can find them elsewhere as well. I have even used music to invite the congregation into focus before the text is read.

Today, as I continue to write my Lenten / Eastertide liturgies, I was inspired to focus on the Prayers of Illumination because I came by this quote in the book Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom by Ariel Burger.

I came to learn that my questions about the disconnect between learning and living had a parallel in Wiesel’s critique of normative education. . . The gap between humanity’s supposed wisdom and the world he lived in troubled him . . . He had many painful questions to ask, but perhaps the one that drove him to become a teacher was this: Why didn’t learning and knowledge inoculate the German people against hatred?
Ariel Burger, Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom

This made me reflect on the disconnect that is often witnessed in Christians. What we say and proclaim our belief in often varies from our actions. And so I tried to carry this marrying of concept to action as I wrote my Prayers of Illumination today.

Here are several which you are welcome to use with citation:

God, Open our ears. Open our hearts. As your inspired word is spoken, let understanding unfold within us. AMEN

God, Sometimes we trust our eyes and our mind too much. Sometimes we let what we believe we know override what you know to be true. Help us to set down our preconceived perceptions and release our understanding of the world so that your truth may be revealed. Let us release our expectations so that you can show us your way. Let us open our heart and hear today’s sacred text. AMEN

Holy One, as we hear your word read, speak into our hearts. Add in what we particularly need to hear today. Draw our focus not out into a story of old, but in toward our innermost heart. Speak to us, O God. Speak so that we might hear. AMEN

Prepare our hearts, O God. Bring us to attention so that as we hear the scripture read, we do not just hear words spoken but also receive a message from you. Open us to your purpose and calling. AMEN

Author of words divine, In the words we are about to hear reveal yourself. Greet us. Meet us as we hear this story of old. AMEN

God of eternal light, Shine your rays through the words are about to hear. Like a laser, emblazon them upon our heart so that we might ponder them long after the reading has ended. AMEN

God, Etch the words we are about to hear upon my heart. Give me pause to return to them, remember them, and revive them as I have need. Your word is my strength and my guide. AMEN

FOR EASTER – On this most blessed day, O Lord, let us witness to your word. Let us join with the people of the past, the people around the globe, and the people of the future to celebrate the wondrous story of your son’s resurrection. Let our hearts receive the good news so that we may go out into the world and live it out. AMEN

Wondrous One, Wake my heart that it may hear the word about to be read. Let me gather it like a precious woven tapestry so that I may take it out and admire it again and again and again. AMEN

Radiant God, who placed the stars in the night sky and gives them the power to shine, as we hear today’s word read bring them your radiance as well. Let us hear them and know them in ways that bring forth awe, admiration, and a change in our way of being, AMEN

Holy One, Reveal your word to us today. Let us hear your inspired word in the depths of our soul. Let it unfold within us that we may be transformed having heard it. AMEN

God of word and witness, Wake us from our sleepy ways. Shake us from our passivity. Call us to attention. Prepare us to hear your holy word and thus to become part of your living embodied message in the world. AMEN

ASSCENSION SUNDAY – Holy God, As we hear this glorious word, let us not stand and gawk. Let this word move us, propel us, and inspire us. May your inspired word not close us in, but open us up to the needs of this world and the actions that you call us all to. May these words we hear spark our internal fire of compassion, love, and justice. AMEN

Teacher, Abba, Creator, As we prepare to hear your word, let us open our whole selves to the hearing of it. As your word is read, let us not just prepare to store it as a memory, but instead let it flow through us, changing us as it does. Let your word not fade from our memory, but become a part of us and who we are going forward. AMEN

PENTECOST SUNDAY –Holy Spirit, as you alight on our hearts today inscribe the words we are about to hear upon it. Let them not leave us when the reading is complete, but let them continue to form and inform us long after our time today. AMEN

Do you use a Prayer of Illumination in your worship? Do you find such a prayer helpful?

Please feel free to share any that you would like to for others to use below.

Lenten Planning

Today, I finally packed away the final Christmas ornaments (except the one I said I would keep out to remember Jesus’ birth throughout the year), Epiphany is in full force, and I’m in full Lenten planning phase.

*The Christmas ornament that I held out from my birth-father and his wife.*

I try to finish my planning within my blocked out planning time, but this season, it just didn’t pan out. I continue to fill in the blanks, but I have gotten pretty far and should be ready long before March 5th.

Here is a glimpse into the overall theme:

And here is a Call to Worship and Invocation from the series:

CALL TO WORSHIP (based on Psalm 51 & 103 – DMA)

Pastor: We come to you, O Lord, imperfect, but hungry.

People: We trust in your steadfast love and take hope in your abundant mercy.

Pastor: We turn to you, O Lord, recognizing that too often we turn away.

People: We trust that indeed you are merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in compassion and lovingkindness.

Pastor: We desire, O Lord, your wisdom in our inmost heart.

People: We open ourselves to you.

INVOCATION (DMA)

Creator, Meet us here. Meet us now. Walk with us on our Lenten Journey. Continue to create us and form us in your likeness. Let our very being act as an offering to you. AMEN

If you are a pastor, what are you considering for this Lenten season?

If you are not a pastor, what would you hope to hear in church this spring?

NOTE: If you ever would like a template that I’ve created, please just ask. I’m happy to share. If you would like to use a prayer, piece of liturgy, or poem for educational or religious reason, please just cite me as the author.