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| Coffee in the Morning |
On the church calendar, this is the last week in the Year of Grace 2016. The new Year of Grace 2017 begins this coming weekend with the First Sunday of Advent. It's time, then, for a Morning Offering of resolutions for the new year ahead of us... (This prayer might be a good one to carry through the Advent season!)
Good morning, good God!
In the new year of grace
I want to offer a share of my heart
greater that what I offered
in the year just past...
I want to offer you the pieces of my heart
I'm least inclined to let go;
the parts of my heart I try to hide
from others, from you, from myself;
the hurting places in my heart
that shy away from even a healing touch...
I offer you the corners of my heart
where I've let some weeds grow wild:
help me uproot whatever fails
to nourish and give me life...
I offer you the closets of my heart,
stuffed with old grudges and resentments:
Lord, help me discard anything
that fails to help me grow...
I offer you the boxes of wasted time,
the cartons of foolishness
and the bags of misspent effort
all cluttering my heart:
help me clear out the trash of my mistakes
and give me a new beginning...
And I offer you the cellar of my heart, Lord,
where a locked trunk of hurt and anger
aches to be opened:
with the key of your healing grace
open me to the peace I seek...
I offer you my heart's hopes and dreams:
my desire to grow in faith;
my pledge to rely on your wisdom and word;
my promise to ask you for help each day;
my word I'll forgive whoever offends me
and my vow to give freely to those in need...
I offer you this new year of grace, Lord,
and ask for the strength and resolve I need
to live it as one worthy of the name I bear:
Christian...
I offer you the new year ahead, Lord
- one day at a time -
and I pray for the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference...
I offer you all of my heart, Lord,
and pray you give me a new year of grace
to grow in faith, to deepen my hope
and give myself to love...
Amen.
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A prayer after the Feast of Christ the King:
ReplyDeleteJesus, my good Brother!
Help me respect and love our mutual brothers and sisters, to love them as they express devotional habits that differ from ones I feel more appropriate to Your brotherhood with us.
Help me not be put off by pious expressions that seem to put you at a distance and come across as over-the-top human metaphors used to praise you as a King, In the Gospels you are unambiguous. You clearly and often invited us (me) to call you brother, not King.
Help me accept that invitation fully and happily, sometimes speaking out, sometimes keeping silent.
Help me keep a balance in my dialog with You by remembering You celebrated the title "brother" (a sibling not a royal relationship) when you told Your disciples to address God as "Our Father."
Faced with well-meaning and strongly pious but totally human analogy about Kingship, help me not think of a brother as King since it subtly creates a distance between brothers.
Help me appreciate how a loving brother has more power than a King to strengthen me where I'm weak, to trust a brother to help me clean up messes I make, to manage and moderate my passionate tendencies, to balance my ups and downs...my inconsistencies and human unpredictability.
Help me recognize you as the brother who encourages and models generosity when I hold back.
Help me accept the meaning of your gospel lessons: a King might possess coercive and overwhelming external power, but a brother shares my DNA fiber and is infinitely more powerful in shaping (and ruling) my thoughts and actions.
Because of your repeated gospel invitations to call you brother, I have a hunch that you smile as a brother would at the incongruity of being called King.
Give me courage to smile along with you.