Monday Morning Offering - 12

A Monday Morning Offerin...
A TUESDAY Morning Offering!
Morning Offering Archive Icon
This weekend was very busy in the parish and Sunday was one one of my busiest days ever! I didn't get my homily posted until late in the evening - and only today, when one reader inquired, did I realize I'd not posted a Monday Morning Offering. (H/T to my faithful reader!) Well, there's NOTHING in our lives that can't be the subject of prayer, so here goes...


Good morning, good God!

I know you're eternal and timeless,
without a beginning and without an end,
and so I'm trusting you don't keep track
of the days of the week
or live by a calendar
as I do...

So please, Lord, accept my Monday Morning Offering
on a Tuesday morning...

I just didn't get to it yesterday
and I'm trusting that you'll give me a listen,
even 24 hours late...

Truth is, Lord, I know you'll accept my prayer,
even a day late,
because no prayer of mine goes unheard
by you who live
and love me
in the present moment,
now and always and forever...

You do not dwell on the mistakes
of all my yesterdays,
not a one of them...

You do not hold me to tomorrows
I've not yet met,
not even the day after today...

But you are with me, ever, in the present:
indeed, this is the day you have made,
the one on which you wait for me,
the day you come to meet me...

Heal me of living in my past, Lord,
and open me to your mercy
flowing, rushing in a river
from your heart to mine...

Save me from my anxiety,
deliver me from fear of days
yet to dawn and pass,
days whose blessings
I've not yet met...

Hold me in the present moment,
keep me in today:
remind me all day long
that this is the day you have made for me,
the day you walk with me:
from moment to minute, from hour to hour,
from the rising of the sun to its setting,
through the night of moon and stars...

No prayer of mine comes too early, Lord,
no prayer of mine arrives too late,
for in every moment of the day and night
your heart listens for mine
to beat, to speak,
to plead, to pray, to praise
and glorify your holy name...

I offer you this day, Lord,
this Tuesday,
for this is the day you have made
and this the prayer
your Spirit has stirred in my heart...

Amen.

Monday Morning Offerings I - XI

-ConcordPastor

Monday Morning Offering - 39

Image: George Mendoza

For nine months I've been posting a weekly Monday Morning Offering, a feature on my blog which draws many readers. So, with the hope that those who have come here for the daily Lenten prayer series might continue to return on Mondays after Easter, the regular Monday Morning Offering stands today as the Daily Lenten Prayer for Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent. This is Monday Morning Offering XXXIX.

(If you’ve been having and living a great Lent,
you may not find this Morning Offering very helpful.
But if you’ve had some ups and downs this Lent,
well - just change the number of days
to match your reality and take it from there…)

Good morning, good God!

So, Lent is half over.
We’re three weeks away from Easter
and I should be at least half prepared to celebrate
your resurrection.

But I’m not.

I’m not sure I’m even 1/40th ready
for Easter Sunday.

Beginning with Ash Wednesday I was doing really well,
right up until the First Sunday of Lent.

I know: that’s only 4 days…

So, I offer you my bad record here, Lord:
have some mercy on me…

I offer you my lack of self-discipline:
I excuse myself so easily…

I offer you my flimsy promises,
made with firm intentions
but failing in follow-through…

I offer you my mistakes, Lord,
hoping that you will forgive me
and accept my renewed pledge
to pray more often, to go without
and to reach out to the poor…
Such is my offering, Lord, and, as always,
it comes with a request on my part
that you not let me try to do this alone…

Be with me, Lord, and be my strength in temptation…

When I put off prayer,
draw me to a quiet place and sit me down
to be with you, to speak with you,
to get to know you better…

When I’m tempted to indulge myself
on what I’ve given up for this season,
remind my heart of my pledge
and the reason for it:
an opportunity to fill my soul
with the food and drink of your word and truth…

When I spend first on myself
and consume more than my share of goods,
show me how much I have (too much!)
and show me how to be generous
with those who little or nothing at all…

I offer you my renewed Lenten intentions, Lord,
and pray you will strengthen my resolve,
deepen my commitment and keep me faithful
to preparing for Easter…

One day at a time this Lent, Lord:
you and me, with the Church,
in the grace of your Holy Spirit...

Amen.
2009
- Heart image by Gwen Mehorg
- Coffee image by George Mendoza

-ConcordPastor

Monday Morning Offering - 198

Image: George Mendoza

Today's the fourth anniversary of Monday Morning Offerings!

When I wrote the first MMO, I had no intention of it being a series but the response to that post was very positive and... so it began.

This MMO is numbered 198 but over four years I've occasionally re-posted previous offerings  - though never without at least a little tweaking, editing and redacting of the first posting.  In light of that, the number of unique Monday morning prayers is probably around 170. 

To celebrate the fourth anniversary I'm re-posting the first Monday Morning Offering and the illustration (below) that accompanied it.  After just a few weeks of MMO's, I adopted the illustration you've become familiar with (above) and I'm grateful to George Mendoza for his gracious permission to use his artwork (Coffee in the Morning) over these four years. If you haven't yet checked out George's site, please do that today.

You'll find an archive of MMO's here.

//////////////////////////////

Monday Morning Offering - 1

O God,

it's Monday!

A new week stretches before me:

will you walk with me this week, Lord?

Slow me down before I go too fast

and give me strength to do well

the things I really need to accomplish...

Give me the wisdom to lay aside

the things I do not need,

the cares I need not carry,

the burdens I need not bear...

Amid the worries of this week, Lord,

calm my fears,

lift my spirits,

give me rest

- and keep me in today...

Open my eyes to any way

I might lighten the burdens of others

and give me the grace and courage to offer:

my hand, my arm, my shoulder;

my heart, my support, my comfort;

my smile, my story, my love...

Show me yourself this week, Lord:

open my ears to your voice,

my eyes to your beauty,

my heart to your mercy,

my mind to your counsel,

my weary limbs to your strength,

my mouth to give you praise...

A new week stretches before me, Lord:

help me to live it

a day at a time,

in your time,

in peace...

Amen.

(Click here for an archive of Monday Morning Offerings)

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Monday Morning Offering - 16

Image: George Mendoza

A reader from the warm and sunny south writes of his experience with these weekly prayers: "Your Monday Morning Offering is now part of my Monday morning coffee with five friends. We all try to read it before we meet and then discuss it when we get together."
It's a joy to know that the word shared here is shared again!

Good morning, good God!

I’ve been wondering, Lord:
what do you do with it all?

What do you do with all the stuff I offer you
on Monday mornings?

And not just my stuff:
other people make morning offerings, too,
and some do it every day of the week…

Lord, what do you do with everything we offer you?

Like steam from millions of cups
of coffee and tea and hot chocolate,
our prayers rise up to you:
a morning offering of incense
ground from our beings,
steeped in our sorrow,
sweetened by our joy…

What do you do with everything we offer you?

I know you hear our prayers
(every single one of them!)
and I believe you cherish our “asking” prayers
just as much as our “praising” prayers…

I believe you’re pleased just to hear from us -
no matter what we say or ask or plead…

And I believe you listen
even when we don’t know what to say:
our silence, too, rises like a sweet fragrance -
be the cups of our hearts empty or full…

Lord, what do you do with everything we offer you?

We offer you prayers, petitions and praise…

We offer dreams and schemes for you to bless with success…

We offer you our hopes and pray we will cope
when you take too long, so long to answer…

We offer you our work or pray to find some work to do…

We offer you our weakness and beg for your strength…

We offer you hearts for healing, hurts for soothing,
bodies for mending, problems for fixing
and relationships for repairing…

What do you do with everything we offer you?

You store it up -- of course, you do!

You keep all we offer
in the infinite depths of your heart
where beats the heart
of every one ever born,
all of us here now
and those whose hearts
have yet begun to beat…

In your heart every prayer is heard, treasured
and measured for eternal keeping
like ribbon-tied love letters
or valentines from children…

Lord, what do you do with everything we offer you?

You remember everything we offer you,
even the many prayers we have forgotten,
prayers that once seemed so urgent…
every one of our prayers echoes in your heart,
forever…

So I come once again, Lord,
and offer you my Monday and the week ahead…

I offer you my needs
and pray you make me generous
because, already,
I have more than I need…

I offer you my troubles and pray for your peace…

I offer you my fears and pray for your strength…

I offer you my silence
and trust you hear the words I cannot say…

I offer you my words and deeds this day, Lord,
and pray they help and bless
all those whose paths cross mine…

Like the steam from my coffee, Lord,
let my morning offering
rise up to you
and live forever
in your Heart of hearts…

Amen.

-ConcordPastor

Monday Morning Offering PLUS: September 30

Image: George Mendoza


As time goes by I hear from more and more readers who come to this page for prayer and reflection, for some peaceful time with the Lord...

As I've mentioned before, sometimes my posts come right from my own prayer and sometimes they come from the people and situations I meet in my ministry as a pastor.  I'm delighted when readers write to tell me, "It seemed like you wrote today's prayer just for me - it was just what I needed!"  When this happens I bow to the Holy Spirit who works in mysterious ways and I praise God from whom all blessings flow!

I'm also grateful for those who have shared with me how coming to this page has introduced or reintroduced for them the custom of making time to pray on a daily basis.  Some folks read my daily prayer when it's posted the night before, some begin their day with it and others stop midday or later to "pause for prayer."

Many of you have also told me of how often you print out or forward my prayer posts to others and I'm grateful for your sharing in spreading the word and inviting others to join us in our conversation with the Lord.

Everything I post here on my blog is also posted on my Face Book page and my Twitter account and I'm very grateful for all your "shares" and "retweets" in those other venues of social media.

So for a change, today's Monday Morning Offering is written in the plural with the hope that we might join together and pray for one another, for all who visit this cyber-chapel for prayer each day...


Audio for Monday Morning Offering
 

Good morning, good God!
 
We offer you the joys of all
who will today find help, a friend, a cure,
some work, some rest and time to share a laugh...

We offer you the heavy hearts
of those bent low by sorrow, grief, loss and tears:
the hearts of all who weep today and call upon your name...

We offer you the peace of those
who will this day find healing, hope and trust in you,
a deeper faith and mercy and forgiveness
 
We offer you the wounded hearts
of those who've lost so much in love, in war, in life:
in promises not kept and now long broken...
 
We offer you the faith of hearts
who reach out for your hand when strength for reaching's gone,
when hunger for your touch is all there is...
 
We offer you the hope of hearts
who seek your peace when peace is nowhere to be found,
who seek your light when darkness clouds their thoughts...
 
We offer you the love of hearts
remembering better days, who trust you'll come again
and keep your word of promised peace...
 
We offer you the hearts of all who gather here for prayer:
receive and bless and heal with grace
our joyful, sorrowed souls and all our deeds this day...

Such is our Monday Morning Offering, Lord:
keep us faithful to the time we need for prayer
and gentle with all whose paths cross ours today...

Amen. 




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Monday Morning Offering: 7/5

Image: George Mendoza

July brings us to the fourteenth anniversary of my Monday Morning Offerings.  When I wrote the first MMO,  I had no intention of it being a series but the response to that post was very positive and... so it began.

To celebrate this anniversary I'm re-posting the first Monday Morning Offering and the graphic that accompanied it.  After just a few weeks of MMO's, I adopted the graphic you've become familiar with (above) and I'm grateful to George Mendoza for his gracious permission to use his artwork (Coffee in the Morning) for more these fourteen years. Check here for articles about George and his work.  George lives with a rare, incurable, degenerative eye disease, fundis flavimaculatus. Effects of the disease caused him to loose all of his central vision and keep only a gray foggy fringe of peripheral vision.

Monday Morning Offering

O God,

it's Monday!

A new week stretches before me:

will you walk with me this week, Lord?

Slow me down before I go too fast

and give me strength to do well

the things I really need to accomplish...

Give me the wisdom to lay aside

the things I do not need,

the cares I need not carry,

the burdens I need not bear...

Amid the worries of this week, Lord,

calm my fears,

lift my spirits,

give me rest

- and keep me in today...

Open my eyes to any way

I might lighten the burdens of others

and give me the grace and courage to offer:

my hand, my arm, my shoulder;

my heart, my support, my comfort;

my smile, my story, my love...

Show me yourself this week, Lord:

open my ears to your voice,

my eyes to your beauty,

my heart to your mercy,

my mind to your counsel,

my weary limbs to your strength,

my mouth to give you praise...

A new week stretches before me, Lord:

help me to live it

a day at a time,

in your time,

in peace...

Amen.

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Monday Morning Offering: Eleventh Anniversary!

Image: George Mendoza

July brings us to the eleventh anniversary of my Monday Morning Offerings.  When I wrote the first MMO, I had no intention of it being a series but the response to that post was very positive and... so it began.

To celebrate this anniversary I'm re-posting the first Monday Morning Offering and the illustration (below) that accompanied it.  After just a few weeks of MMO's, I adopted the illustration you've become familiar with (above) and I'm grateful to George Mendoza for his gracious permission to use his artwork (Coffee in the Morning) for more than a decade.  George lives with a rare, incurable, degenerative eye disease, fundis flavimaculatus. Effects of the disease caused him to loose all of his central vision and keep only a gray foggy fringe of peripheral vision. Check here for articles about George and his work.

Monday Morning Offering

O God,

it's Monday!

A new week stretches before me:

will you walk with me this week, Lord?

Slow me down before I go too fast

and give me strength to do well

the things I really need to accomplish...

Give me the wisdom to lay aside

the things I do not need,

the cares I need not carry,

the burdens I need not bear...

Amid the worries of this week, Lord,

calm my fears,

lift my spirits,

give me rest

- and keep me in today...

Open my eyes to any way

I might lighten the burdens of others

and give me the grace and courage to offer:

my hand, my arm, my shoulder;

my heart, my support, my comfort;

my smile, my story, my love...

Show me yourself this week, Lord:

open my ears to your voice,

my eyes to your beauty,

my heart to your mercy,

my mind to your counsel,

my weary limbs to your strength,

my mouth to give you praise...

A new week stretches before me, Lord:

help me to live it

a day at a time,

in your time,

in peace...

Amen.

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Monday Morning Offering: 5/14

Morning Coffee by George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

I’ve been wondering, Lord:
what do you do with it all?
With all the stuff I offer you
on Monday mornings?

And not just my stuff,

lots of folks make morning offerings

and not just Mondays

but every day of the week!

- and sometimes seven days a week...

What do you do it all?
What do you do with everything I offer you?

As steam from my coffee cup
let my prayer rise up:
a fragrant morning offering,
    fresh-ground from my being,
    steeped in my sorrow,
    and sweetened with my joy…

I know you hear my prayers, Lord,
- every single one
And you cherish my “asking” prayers
just as much as  my prayers of praise:
I believe you’re pleased just to hear from me -
no matter what I plead or pray...

And when I fail to find the words to say,

you listen to the silence rising from my heart,

my daily morning offering, cupped in hands,

lifted up to you...

What do you do, Lord, 

with all I offer you?

You lift it up, store it up,

you hold it in your heart

where every uttered prayer is kept

and treasured in your love...

 

Every prayer I make,

every softly whispered plea,

echoes in your heart, Lord

through all eternity...

 

And so I come again, Lord,

as I do each Monday morning:

as the steam from my coffee cup
let my prayer rise up:
a fragrant morning offering,
    fresh-ground from my being,
    steeped in my sorrow,
    and sweetened with my joy…

   

Amen.

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Monday Morning Offering - 36

Image: George Mendoza

For nine months I've been posting a weekly Monday Morning Offering, a feature on my blog which draws many readers. So, with the hope that those who have come here for the daily Lenten prayer series might continue to return on Mondays after Easter, the regular Monday Morning Offering stands today as the Daily Lenten Prayer for Monday of the First Week of Lent.

Good morning, good God!

So, my ashes have been gone nearly five days now
and what remains is the place in my heart
signed not by burned palm
but by my pledge to draw closer to you
in these forty holy days...

I'm not so much looking
at how faithful I've been in my moving towards you, Lord,
but rather I'm aware that you have seized this moment
to draw closer to me and I'm wondering
if I have been open to your approach, your advance
upon my heart and my life...

Surely you have seized the season
and my efforts to live these days faithfully,
drawing closer to you,
inviting you to draw closer to me...

Have I noticed the ways
you've stepped closer to my side?

Have I any awareness
of your desire to make yourself known to me?

Have I felt your touch upon my spirit?
Have I heard your voice calling my name?
Have I caught even quick glimpses
of your showing up in the course of my days,
of your keeping watch over me through the nights?

Have I been so worried about my Lenten exercises
that I've failed to see how you've taken the lead
in renewing and refreshing your friendship with me?

I offer you my preoccupation with "doing Lent right"
when what I need is simply to be open to your presence
on my right and my left, behind me and before me...

I offer you my mistaken efforts
to be in charge of my Lenten practice :
I've easily forget, Lord, that the grace of this season
is your initiative, not mine...

I offer you my attempts to plan what you will do in my heart
and my scheduling of how and when you should accomplish it...

Lord, no one knows me better than you
and no one knows better than you
what I need...

Help me to trust that you are working in my heart this Lent,
and in my mind, in my imagination, in my fears and hopes....

Help me to see the ways you disclose your presence to me,
the moments when you show up along my path
and choose to walk my my side...

And keep me faithful to the needs of others, Lord,
whose paths cross mine and whose needs reveal
the many ways in which I might serve them...

Keep me open to what you have planned for me this Lent, Lord,
and surprise me with the gifts you have prepared for me...

Lord, ready me to walk the way of the Cross in these holy days,
the path that leads to every hope I hold
and opens for me the way to all you hold in store for my life...

One day at a time this Lent, Lord:
you and me, with the Church,
in the grace of your Holy Spirit...
2009lentpostcollection
Amen.
2009LentPostCollection
- Heart image by Gwen Mehorg
- Coffee image by George Mendoza

-ConcordPastor Monday Moring Offering - XXXVI

A Monday Morning Offering - on a Thursday

Image: George Mendoza

It was three years ago today that I posted my first Monday Morning Offering. When I wrote that prayer it wasn't my intention to make it a weekly feature but: the response was very good; I enjoyed working on this theme; and now there have been 149 MMO's.  Now and again I've redacted and/or reposted an earlier piece so the actual count could be challenged.  Some day, when I have the time, I hope to edit and publish these as a collection but that's not any time soon.  For now, my MMO's are archived here.

I'm aware that it's the weekly MMO that regularly draws many readers to this page.  I've also been happy to hear how often readers have forwarded a MMO to family and friends to share in times of a particular need.

So, here on a Thursday is a repost of the first Monday Morning Offering...

O God,
it's Monday!

A new week stretches before me:
will you walk with me this week, Lord?

Slow me down before I go too fast
and give me strength to do well
the things I really need to accomplish...

Give me the wisdom to lay aside
the things I do not need,
the cares I need not carry,
the burdens I need not bear...

Amid the worries of this week, Lord,
calm my fears,
lift my spirits,
give me rest
- and keep me in today...

Open my eyes to any way
I might lighten the burdens of others
and give me the grace and courage to offer:
my hand, my arm, my shoulder;
my heart, my support, my comfort;
my smile, my story, my love...

Show me yourself this week, Lord:
open my ears to your voice,
my eyes to your beauty,
my heart to your mercy,
my mind to your counsel,
my weary limbs to your strength,
my mouth to give you praise...

A new week stretches before me, Lord:
help me to live it
a day at a time,
in your time,
in peace...

Amen.

(Click here for an archive of Monday Morning Offerings)

 
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Monday Morning Offering - 8

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

How 'bout that Michael Phelps, Lord?
I'll bet he's having a great Monday morning!

I see this Olympic athlete,
his strength and his skill,
and I remember what Irenaeus wrote,
"The glory of God is a human being fully alive!"

On a Monday morning? Fully alive?
I guess you call me to that every morning, Lord,
but there are many mornings
when I feel, well, like a loser...

I wish I could be like Michael Phelps, Lord:
strong, young, vibrant, focused, healthy
- and a winner!

So here's my Monday morning offering, Lord:

I offer you what strength I have,
no matter how little or how much,
and I pray you will firm up what is weak in me,
- that you will be my strength this week,
especially when I am tempted
to play to my weaknesses...

I offer you my youth, Lord,
no matter or young or old I may be:
remind me that this is the day, this is the week
when you call me anew, as if for the first time,
to follow you
and walk in the light of your truth...

I offer you my hopes, Lord,
especially the dashed and broken ones:
restore, revitalize, resuscitate my dreams
and make me hungry
for the value of your good gifts...

I offer you my confusion and doubts, Lord:
focus my mind, my will, my spirit
on your presence at my side,
the word you speak,
the counsel you offer in my heart of hearts...

I offer you my body, Lord:
hale and hearty or bent and broken,
strong and muscled or weak and failing...
Heal and strengthen me
for whatever you ask of me this week;
cleanse my spirit of what is not pure,
and train me to exercise the virtues
that strengthen my faith...

I want to stretch myself, Lord,
beyond what I settle for
when I doubt your strength within me...
I want the strength to strive fearlessly
for goals beyond my reach
- at least for those within my grasp...
I want the victory I know will be mine, Lord,
if I put my trust and hope in you...

I have little to offer you, Lord,
in my Monday morning prayer
- and so much to ask of you...

If your glory rests in humanity full alive,
then bring your glory to life within me
and crown me, Lord, with the victory
that opens my heart to you
and to those around me.

Amen.



-ConcordPastor

Monday Morning Offering: LABOR DAY

Image: George Mendoza

Two Monday Morning Offerings to choose from today!

LABOR DAY MORNING OFFERING 1

Good morning, good God!

This Labor Day, Lord,
I'm grateful for the world you created
and that I, too, 

am the work of your hands:
    You formed my inmost being, 
    you knit me in my mother's womb...*

How can it be that you took the time,
    before time was,
to imagine my being,
to consider even for a moment
    that I would exist:
to conceive of me
    before I was conceived?

And then from the love of two,
    you made, you fashioned me 
        in your own image - and in theirs
and gave me a soul you'd given no other
    and breathed in me
        the breath of your own life...

How great are your works, O Lord,
and how grateful am I
    that this life of mine
        is truly the work of your hands...

Who am I that you should be mindful of me,
    watch over, hold and care for me?
Yet you've crowned me with glory and honor:**
    your love, my crown,
    your mercy, my glory,
    your grace, my joy...

Without you, Lord, I am nothing;
    without you
        - I am not...

You created me, Lord,
    the work of your hands,
and this morning I offer
    the work of my hands,
knowing that all that I have and hold
    was first your gift to me...

 

On this Labor Day, Lord, I offer my work
    and pray you'll deem it worthy and true; 

I'm humbled that my hands share in your work

    and that your hands share in mine...

And I pray, Lord, for those who have no work
    and for those whose work is too much to bear:
lift up and help the jobless, Lord 
    and lighten the load of the weary...

Make me mindful, Lord, of all the ways
    you quietly move in my life
through the work of those whose paths cross mine,

    whose labor supports and protects me...

Amen.

 *Psalm 139

**Psalm 8

LABOR DAY MORNING OFFERING 2

Good morning, good God!

Another Monday morning, Lord,
the first one in September, Labor Day:
    summer’s end, fall’s debut,
        and a day off - for those who have a job…

Grant a day of rest (a Sabbath plus)
    to the tired, spent and burned out,
to those who are working two jobs or more,
    and those whose work brings them no satisfaction...

And I lift up into your hands, O Lord,
    those who have no job at all,
    who’ve searched in vain 

        for months, for years, 

    for work to d0, to pay the bills, 

        to make ends meet,
    to help them just get by…

I offer to your mercy, Lord,

those still not justly paid,
    whose rights have no defenders,
    whose work sites fail to rise to standards
        decent, clean, humane…

I lift up to your care, O Lord,
    the chronic work-a-holics 

who, forgetting friends and family,

    forsake their rest and leisure,

        and the joy that rest can bring...

I offer you my thanks, O Lord,
    for those who work for workers' rights

who toil for those whom others cheat 

    - and use with no respect for human life...

Lord, lift up those who work too much,

    who work too hard, too long
and refresh the hearts of those who've found

    their working days are done...

Move the minds and hearts of those
    who hire and employ;
make just and fair the laborer’s lot
    and safe each place where work is done…

 

Refresh the weary worker, Lord
    and lead the jobless back to work;

may all our work be done well

    and give glory to your name...

 

Amen.

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Monday Morning Offering for Labor Day 2020

This post offers two Monday Morning Offerings for Labor Day...


LABOR DAY MORNING OFFERING 1

Good morning, good God!

This Labor Day, Lord,
I'm grateful for the world you created
and that I, too, am the work of your hands:
you formed my inmost being, 
you knit me in my mother's womb...*

How can it be that you took the time,
before time was,
to imagine my being,
to consider even for a moment
that I would exist:
to conceive of me
before I was conceived?

And then from the love of two,
you made, you fashioned me 
in your own image and in theirs
and gave me a soul you'd given no other
and breathed in me
the spirit, the breath of your own life...

How great are your works, O Lord,
and how grateful am I
that this life of mine
is truly the work of your hands...

Who am I that you should be mindful of me,
care for me and love me?
Yet you have crowned me with glory and honor:
your love, my crown,
your mercy, my glory,
your grace, my honor...

Without you, Lord, I am nothing;
without you,
I am not...

You created me, Lord,
and now I,
the work of your hands,
offer you
the work of my hands,
knowing that all that I have
was first your gift to me...

Every good thought of mine,
every imagined word, 
every work I dream,
every gift I offer
is the work of your Spirit within me -
and yet you are pleased
when I lift up to you a gift
that was always yours to begin with...

On this Labor Day, Lord, I offer my work
and pray you'll accept it and know
that I'm humbled that my hands share in your work
and your hands share in mine...

And I pray for those who have no work
and for those whose work's too much to bear:
lift up the jobless, Lord 
and lighten the load of the weary...

Make me mindful, Lord,
of the ways you move in my life
through the work of all whose paths cross mine...

Good God of Monday mornings
and of every labored day,
I praise you for the work you began in me
and pray you bring it to fulfillment...

Amen.

 *Psalm 139

LABOR DAY MORNING OFFERING 2

Good morning, good God!

This Labor Day morning,
I offer you my work, Lord,
in all its shapes and forms...

I offer you the work of my hands:
my sometimes graceful, often clumsy efforts
to reach out, lift up and support
those around me and any who ask for my help...

I offer you the work of my words, Lord:
inspire my writing and my speech
with the counsel of your Spirit
and the spirit of your truth...

I offer you the work of my listening:
keep me attentive, Lord,
and sensitive to what is said and not said
in all that I hear;
and keep me open, Lord,
to the sound of your voice in my prayer...

I offer you the work of my imagination, Lord:
open me to colors, shapes, sounds, ideas and visions
to help me bring the beauty of your word and presence
to the eyes and ears of those around me...

I offer you the work of my heart, Lord:
heal and strengthen my heart where its been hurt;
nurture and exercise my heart where it's grown weak;
enlarge and open my heart
to those whose paths cross mine
and who need another's heart
to listen, to understand...

I offer you the work of my ministry, Lord:
keep me faithful to my share of the work that is yours,
the work you've entrusted to my hands...

I offer you the work of my will and desire to be faithful:
to what you ask of me,
to the work you give me,
and to those who are served by my work...

Keep me faithful to the work of serving others
and open me, Lord,
to the blessing and help of those
whose work serves me...

Give those in need a job, Lord,
and to the tired grant well earned rest...

Let all our work give glory to your name
this Monday morning
and all this day and week ahead...


Amen.

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