A Concord Pastor Comments: Monday Morning Offering

Image: George Mendoza

(I'm repeating this post from last September because
it's that time of year again!)

Good morning, good God!

The leisure days of summer are gone, Lord,
and parish life is almost in full swing...

Even if I'm not ready for it all,
the rush and quickening pace pick me up
and sweep me, head long,
into a "new year" of programs and prayer...

I offer you praise, Lord, for the life all around me:
the people, the work, the schedules, the events,
the coming and goings, the new beginnings
and the opportunities all of this offers me...

I offer you praise, Lord,
for all the ways your hand stirs in my life,
prodding, inviting, pushing, pulling,
tugging at my sleeve to draw me out of myself
and into the pulsing body of your presence
in the people who cross my paths every day,
all day long...

I offer you praise, Lord,
for the gifts that are mine and for all the gifts
of those with whom I work and for all the ways
you mix and match our gifts and talents,
our inspirations, ideas and insights
as day by day, through the work of our hands,
you strengthen the reign of your presence among us...

I offer you praise, Lord,
for the grace and growth of working together
with sisters and brothers whose energy and excitement
charge me with new life, with hope,
with reason to put one foot ahead of another and,
step by step, to make my way through days and nights
and weeks and months, year by year,
growing in the life of your Church and in the joy
of being members of your Body, alive and well,
even through times dark and difficult...

I offer you praise, Lord,
for the ways in which you make of us all
so much more than the sum of our number,
how you multiply our efforts as we share in the work
you've entrusted to our care...

Help me, Lord, when I'm tempted to withdraw,
when I'm tired and ready to call it quits,
when I'm weary and not sure if I can go on:
give me your Spirit, igniting your spark of life within me;
give me others to draw me to the fields of your harvest;
give me strength to keep going when the going gets tough;
give me grace to trust that in everything I do
your hand guards and guides me...

And when my selfish and careless ways wound those at my side,
help me see the harm I've done and heal the hurt I've caused:
make me an instrument of your peace, Lord,
and open me to the healing peace that others offer me...

All this I offer you, Lord, as summer ends
and a "new year" begins in parish life:
accept my morning offering this day
and through all the weeks and months ahead...

Amen.