Monday Morning Offering - 49

Image: George Mendoza
Memorial Day Prayer
Good morning, good God!

Yesterday I preached on your Spirit's seven gifts
and like a song that keeps playing in my mind,
that Confirmation "gift list" keeps coming back to me:
wisdom, understanding, right judgment, courage,
knowledge, reverence, awe in God's presence...

I'm not sure I unwrapped all those gifts, Lord.
A few of them I just took a peek at
and then put the cover back on the box...

And I think I stuffed one or two in a closet
or a bottom drawer
and I haven't gone looking for them since -
even when I needed them...

So I offer you my need for those gifts, Lord,
and pray you'll give them once again
or help me find where I've stashed them -
and this time open them up all the way...

I offer you my need
for the Spirit's gift of wisdom, Lord,
especially when I'm rash in word and deed,
quick to offer unfounded opinions
and slow to reverence the treasures of tradition.
Help me to esteem the wisdom of my faith
above any other possession I have or want.
Give me your wisdom, Lord,
and help me to see as you see...

Lord, I offer you my need
for the Spirit's gift of understanding:
give me a desire to understand your Word and its truth,
the teachings of my Church and the ways of faith.
When I'm quick to deny and reject,
make me patient in my efforts to understand and accept.
Help me to see
that my truth is neither the only nor the greatest truth.
Keep me humble as I learn, Lord...

I offer you my need
for the Spirit's gift of right judgment, Lord.
Steep me deeply in your counsel, your word and your wisdom
so that I'm inclined to intuit, know and judge
which way is yours, which word is true, which choice is best.
Shape my mind, heart and will, Lord,
in the mold of your goodness, in the image of your beauty,
in the pattern of your justice.
Soften the hardness of my heart, Lord,
and bend me towards yours...

Lord, I offer you my need
for the Spirit's gift of courage.
Give me the courage I lack, the courage I need
to act according to the wisdom, understanding and counsel
your Spirit offers me.
Give me fortitude and follow-through, grit and guts
to be true to what I've learned, what I know, what I believe.
Help me to be more mindful of what you ask of me, Lord,
and less of what others think of me.
I ask not to be brave, Lord,
but to be true to you and to myself...

I offer you my need
for the Spirit's gift of knowledge, Lord.
Strengthened by wisdom, understanding and good counsel,
give me a knowledge of how to weave these gifts
into the fabric of each day's ups and downs, joys and sorrows.
Give me a working knowledge, Lord, of how your word and truth
are part and parcel of the real world, its people and our problems.
Give me the knowledge I need, Lord,
to live and share my faith, day in and day out,
one day at a time...

Lord, I offer you my need
for the Spirit's gift of reverence.
Give me a heart to worship you out of love, not fear.
As your servant, it's my duty and obligation to revere you, Lord,
but give me a heart to want to worship you,
a desire to follow you, a yearning to do what you ask of me...
With the gift of reverence,
let your wisdom, counsel and courage
weave my worship, will and work so that all I do be
the debt the beloved gladly owes the lover.
Give me a reverence for you, O Lord,
and a heart bent on loving you as you have loved me...

I offer you my need
for the Spirit's gift of awe in your presence, Lord.
Help me want never to offend you, Lord.
Help me to believe that you're always ready
to help me do what draws me close to you
and to avoid what leads me away from you.
Help me trust in your grace to strengthen me
and confirm my hope that you are always with me.
Help me never forget that I am always in your presence, Lord,
and that every step I take is on holy ground...

I offer you my need for all the Spirit's gifts, Lord,
and pray that I might use them to serve you
and all those whose paths will cross mine
this Monday morning, this day
and this week.

Amen.

-ConcordPastor