An Opening: November 2010

A Collection of Prayers

I have written and offered many of the following prayers in worship services throughout my years as Associate Pastor for Cornerstone, the contemporary worship community at Highland Park United Methodist Church.

Some of the prayers below are ones that others have offered at various times and places that have inspired me and said to God what I was unable to put into my own words. I offer all of them now to you and hope that through them you will find comfort, guidance, and, most of all, connection with God.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

A Buddhist Prayer

We will be kind and gentle to every living thing and protect those who are weaker than ourselves.

We will think pure and beautiful thoughts, say pure and beautiful words, and do pure and beautiful deeds.

Amen.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Self-Acceptance

I pray for the willingness to remember that I am a child of God, a divine soul in human form, and that my most basic and urgent life-task is to accept, know, love and nurture myself. As I accept myself, I am accepting God's will. As I know and love myself, I am knowing and loving God. As I nurture myself I am acting on God's guidance. I pray for the willingness to let go of my arrogant self-criticism, and to praise God by humbly accepting and caring for myself.

Amen.

Meditation for Worship (The New Union Prayer Book)

I have always found prayer difficult. So often it seems like a fruitless game of hide-and-seek where we seek and God hides...Yet I cannot leave prayer alone for long. My need drives me to Him. And I have a feeling that He has His own reasons for hiding Himself, and that finally all my seeking will prove infinitely worthwhile.

And I am not sure what I mean by 'finding'. Some days my very seeking seems a kind of 'finding'. And, of course, if 'finding' means the end of 'seeking', it were better to go on seeking.

An Opening