Sunday Prayer May 26, 2024

Sunday Prayer for the Chaplain + Deacon + Pastor

God of Love,

Yes, for the love of YOU, help me let go of the notion I’ve got to teach the trinity to my people. Or even understand it myself. Ok. I’m breathing, 1, 2, 3. You’re not interested in my differentiation of the 3 persons of the Trinity or the theology of, in, with, under, over, and far, far beyond it. 🙂 You transcend my big ideas and my carefully chosen words, for which I am grateful. And you bust apart my concrete sequential ideas of life with you. So help me simply speak and sing and point to your love that you show us through Jesus. Even to those who are trying my patience right now. Even to the folks who are ready to walk away for a summer who I’ll probably see again in the fall, on that great rally day. Your spirit is pretty creative and can stir up love even in my weary and bitter heart, so I ask you to do that in full measure today. Either as I prepare for or reflect on worship and on these, your dear people, who you’ve called me to love. I don’t get it, and that’s ok. Because you do. And you get what it takes to love me and that is a mystery to me. So help me be gobsmacked by your good news today. Let it fill me and terrify me and bring me to new life, especially if my spirit feels fearful and my thoughts are drifting toward when I will be on vacation. Invite me into your dance of love to remind me what this is all about. And give me eyes to see and ears to hear and big, goofy smile to respond to your activity in my own life. It never ends, your desire to dance with me, to love me. And to see that I too am made to love, am love.

So help me get out of my own way. Pry my tightly gripped fingers off of how it will go or how it all went, and remind me of that grace that is first for me. Help me to not run over the people in my life closest to me, especially if lots of things are on my mind about this call, this worship, this meeting, this, this, this. There will always be another this, so help me see the people who are just trying to love me. You are relentless in how you show up in my life. Thanks for not giving up on me. Thanks for being about love for me and for the whole world. It’s just so, so good. Amen

Take a deep breath, dear deacon, dear pastor, dear chaplain. For your labor in the Lord is not in vain.