For March 16, 2025 --Lent 2C

PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God, you invite us to follow your Way, you offer us a whole new future.
But sometimes the promise takes so long to come true that we start to doubt
Sometimes we make back-up plans in case the promise somehow fails.
And again you come to us, calling us to be people of hope, to trust in the promise.
Help us to trust, help us to be people of hope.
God of the promise, there are days when we feel alone, surrounded by people who are out to get us,
There are days when we feel like lone voices sharing a different vision in a wilderness of opposing voices
There are days when it is easy to lose heart.
God of grace, when we lose heart, when we doubt the promise, when we fall back to our own plans,
Forgive our weakness, remove our anxiety and despair, renew us to trust and hope.
From the witness of the ancient writers we hear these words of assurance: (Psalm 27 1, 13-14)

The Lord is my light and my salvation;  whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?...
I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;  be strong, and let your heart take courage;  wait for the Lord!

In that confidence we will be people of trust and hope. Thanks be to God. Amen.

For February 23, 2025 -- Epiphany 7C

PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE
Source of life and love, you challenge us to love and serve each other.
And we commit ourselves to do that.
Source of life and love, you challenge us to go further, to love and serve those who mistreat us.
That is harder, but we commit ourselves to try our best.
Source of life and love, you challenge us to avoid judging each other.
Help us offer forgiveness, forgiveness that runs over.
Source of life and love, in your grace help us grow in faith hope and love.
Help us learn from our successes and failures, help us treat others as we would be treated, help us love and serve our friends and our enemies as we strive to follow The Way of Jesus.
God, who is our source of life and love, does challenge us to go beyond the simple, to go the extra mile in love. The same God shows us grace and mercy when that extra step feels just too much. In grace God picks us back up and helps us try again, offering forgiveness that runs over whatever measure we might use.
Thanks be to God! Hallelujah! Amen.