Opening Prayers/Prayers of Adoration on Mercy
Prayer: You Are Near
Inspired by Matthew 1:18-25
Holy Comforter,
You are near when my dream dies.
You are near the brokenhearted.
Thanks be to you for a new dream and a future beyond my imagining.
Maker of Miracle,
You are near when I cannot see your will.
When a good choice, even a merciful choice, is not your choice.
Thanks be to you for correction and clarity.
Divine One,
You are near when I dismiss the holy.
When I say no to your call.
Thanks be to you for your patience, your persevering grace, and second chances.
O come, O come Emmanuel,
strengthen me with the promise of your steadfast presence and saving love,
set my heart and step to your righteousness end. Amen
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You are near © 2016 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia, www.revlisad.com
No Record of Wrongs, an opening prayer
Inspired by 1 Corinthians 13:5 NRSV
Love keeps no record of wrongs.
We keep to-do lists so we don’t forget
We check them twice
We carry them in our pockets
Holding on to the pain
The disappointment
The failure
Re-viewing the wrong
Point by point by point
Plotting revenge on ourselves and others
We carry them
They keep us cross
Wounded and bleeding
Divided and dying
You take our lists
Crossing out
Crossing off
Nailing them to your tree
Burying them in a blaze of love
So we may rise free
You keep no record of wrong
Instead, you write our names on your palm
A life list on your lifeline
A love list by your scar
Hallelujah
Time of silent prayer
No Record of Wrongs © 2014 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia, www.revlisad.com
(Prayer of Adoration)
Joyful, joyful we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love –
Holy and wonderful are You:
Your grace is without measure,
and Your purpose sure and true;
Your power is unequaled
and You are sovereign and mysterious in all Your ways.
We thank You for the gift of this today, a new day;
a day when Your mercies are fresh, untainted and new,
and Your faithfulness again clearly visible.
(Prayer of Confession)
Yet, how often we spoil new days!
We repeat old patterns rather than live free.
We hold on to old hurts rather than forgive.
We complain when we don’t our way; and
ignore the needs of others, caught up in our own desires.
We believe lies told about others
and even the ones we tell about ourselves.
We’re complacent in the face of injustice and poverty.
And in all things, we’re better at making excuses
than at repenting and changing our ways.
Forgive us. We have sinned against you in thought, word and deed,
by what we have done and what we have left undone.
Hear now our silent prayers of confession and forgive us because of
Your great love. (Silent prayers of confession)
(Assurance of Pardon)
The Lord declares, through the prophet Isaiah, that “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, and your sins like the morning mist” dissipated by the wind of my Spirit and melted into nothing by the brightness of my Son’s love.