Sunday AM Prayer 21 July 2024

Sunday Prayer for the Chaplain + Deacon + Pastor

Loving God,

You are ours. Or rather, mine. My call is to see out beyond the end of my own nose. My call is to get me out of my own heart, my own way. And sometimes that leads directly to my forgetting that you, God, belong to me. That your love is first and foremost for me. That you give it to me because that’s just who you are. It’s how you are. You made me so you love me. You recognize me, even when I don’t recognize my own self. I can get so caught up in my service and love for others through you that when I look in the mirror, I’m not quite sure who it is. Because my filter for your love can really screw things up sometimes. Or it can distort things. Sometimes I get it completely wrong. And yet, you don’t ever seem surprised by my lapses in judgment or memory. You don’t seem taken aback by my lack of faith or fortitude or whatever else seems to be in short supply in me that day. You show me compassion. You show it through Jesus. Your constant compassion, knowing that God doesn’t get to take a break from showing that kind of love. So help me to breathe in and out and take a break so that my heart doesn’t break wide open in despair. Remind me, once again, that you are God and I am not. And send me out into the fray to show your love, through your compassion and power and might. Help me walk into the church building and not sigh from weariness or disappointment or frustration. Just help me encounter whoever is in front of me with your love. Your grace. So help me just soak that in right now so I’ve got a shot at doing it later.

Help me, too, God, to love those who are supposed to love me first and most. Help me not take out my anxiousness about church stuff and people stuff on the very people who have to live with me and love me. Like, forever. Show me your compassion again and again. Amen

Take a deep breath, dear deacon, dear pastor, dear chaplain. For your labor in the Lord is not in vain. Don’t be afraid. God is with you.