Prayer

Weakness and strength: A prayer

/ The Pastor

Lord of heaven and earth,
mighty God,
loving Father…

You are more satisfying than worldly pleasures.
You are more fulfilling than worldly pursuits.
You are more precious than worldly treasures.

But, Oh Lord, I need your help!

Satan pursues me with false promises; trying to entice me to follow his ways. He pursues me with visions of grandeur; trying to tempt me to disobey you.  Satan is relentless and persistent and determined.

But as for me, O Lord…

…I am weak.

On my own I don’t stand a chance.
On my own I will be devoured by the prowling lion.
On my own I am condemned.

May I look to you and see the Way.
May I look to you and know Truth.
May I look to you and have Life.

Eternal God, compassionate and gracious; grant me strength that I may dwell in You; that I may enjoy the victory you have won through Jesus Christ. May I have the faith to cling to that crown and not to a paper crown that Satan tries to pass off as a treasure.

Thank you God for your mercy and forgiveness.  May all come to praise and worship you as their Lord and Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord and whose name I pray.

Amen

The pastor -|—

Holy rest: A Prayer

/ The Pastor

Holy God; gracious and merciful…

Through Jesus Christ we find rest for our souls.
Through Jesus Christ we find peace for our hearts.
Through Jesus Christ we find hope for the future.

And this is all despite the fact that we are unfaithful to you, O God.

Almighty God, the depth of your love is unsearchable and the wideness of your mercy is unimaginable and the joy of your peace surpasses all understanding.

Oh Lord our God, how we desire to see you face to face and to soak in your majesty.  How we desire to behold your beauty and gaze on you for all eternity.  How we desire to sing with all your saints a song that never ends.  Mighty God, you are worthy of all worship, praise and honor.

May we rest in your promises on this Sabbath Day and forever more.

In Jesus name I pray,  Amen.

May this Sabbath Day be more than just rest from a busy week, but rather, resting in the promises of Jesus.  In the words of Jesus: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28)

Enjoy your rest; now and forever more 🙂

The pastor -|—

Weakness: A prayer

/ The Pastor

Loving and gracious God,

May I always feel unprepared to preach, lead worship and engage in ministry.
May I always feel inadequate for the task at hand.
May I always feel weak…

…for when I am weak, unprepared, inadequate, it is then that I am strong, for in those moments your Spirit takes over and does something amazing.

May I know your Spirit’s presence this morning, and always, that you may be lifted up and glorified and not me.  For when I feel strong, prepared and adequate for the task ahead it is then that I seek the glory.  May that never be.

So I lay everything at your feet this morning and ask that you use me.

May your Word break through hearts of stone.
May your Word strengthen weak faith.
May your Word give life to dry bones.

This I lift up to you through your glorious Son, Jesus Christ, my Lord.

Amen!

The pastor  -|—

Fear: A prayer

/ The Pastor

Loving and Holy God…

I confess to you that I am afraid.  Afraid of:
~ all I have to do this week.
~ falling short of your’s and people’s expectations.
~ forgetting something important.
~ becoming impatient.
~ losing sight of you because of the demands placed on me.

Holy, God, there is much to fear in this world but I find comfort in the fact that you don’t turn away from us because we fear, but you confront our fears with your awesome Good News.
~ Joseph was afraid to take Mary as his wife but you turned his fear into a godly fear.
~ Mary was afraid and troubled by the angel’s greeting but your turned her fear into a godly fear.
~ The shepherds were afraid at the appearing of the angel in that night sky but you turned their fear into a godly fear.

In the same way, Oh God, turn my fear into a godly fear that I my glorify your Holy name and lead others to do the same.  May my fear of you drive me to run into your loving arms and soak in your amazing love for me.  May my fear of you be the source of my proclamation of the Gospel.  And lastly, may my fear of you dispel my worldly fears that Satan uses to drive me away from you.

Loving God, you are awesome and amazing and wonderful and worthy of all praise and worship.  May your children run to you and fall into your arms.  Through Jesus Christ our risen Lord and Savior I pray…

AMEN!

The pastor -|—

Unprepared: A prayer

/ The Pastor

Holy God, Advent is a season of preparation (like I need to tell you that), but I feel so unprepared.

There are so many people that need to hear the Good News of the Christ child.
There are so many hurts that need your healing touch.
There are so many lonely people that need to know your presence.
There are so many misdirected people following secular holiday idols.

I think of all of this and feel overwhelmed and therefore I feel so unprepared to meet the demands of ministry.  So I lay it out on the line for you this morning:
~ I fall back; trusting that your Holy Spirit will catch me.
~ I let go; trusting that your Holy Spirit will guide me.
~ I will wait; trusting that you will do something absolutely amazing.

So maybe it is a good thing that I feel unprepared because that leaves room for you to do something through me.  So I lift up to you those who don’t know Jesus, those who are hurting, those who are lonely and those who are misdirected.  Prepare me to minister to them; that they may know the true joy that is Jesus Christ our Savior born to us.

And may I continue to feel unprepared.

Amen!

The pastor -|—

Stir, stir, stir

/ The Pastor

Holy and awesome God, you have called me to preach your Word to your people.  And this is an awesome calling; one that causes me to pause and wonder if I am being faithful.  So God, I ask that you may stir my heart that I may know your Spirit and therefore turn over the controls.  For if this task were left up to me I would surely bring it all to ruin.  

But this calling to preach your Word is not limited to Sunday morning.  And it’s not even limited to me as a pastor.  You have called all your people to preach your Word to everyone.  So in that light I ask that you may bless the children this morning as they preach your Word through their Christmas program.  

But also, bless each and everyone one of us as we head out into the world so that we may not fail to preach, but boldly share our faith whether called to be a pastor or not. For through faith in Jesus Christ, all believers are received into the priesthood of all believers and therefore we are called to preach. Stir our hearts continually so that we may give you glory, continually.

Loving and worthy God, we are here ~ stir, stir, stir…

In Jesus’ name, Amen!

The pastor -|—

About one thing

/ The Pastor

Happy 1st Sunday of Advent!!!

May your preparations this Christmas season bring you joy as we anxiously await the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

May we not get caught up in the secular definitions of this season.
May we not lose sight of the meaning of this season.
May we not get caught up in the marketing hype of this season.

Christmas is about one thing and one thing only…
a baby
Jesus Christ
our Lord

Let’s prepare and celebrate rightly to the glory of God our Father…

Loving God, we praise for this gift of life, Jesus Christ our Lord.  We praise you that you came to us in such a humble way in order to show us your amazing love to a sinful people.  We praise you that we can have a sure and certain hope through faith in Jesus.  May our preparations this Advent season bring you glory and may we take advantage of every opportunity to proclaim the real meaning of this season. In Jesus name, AMEN!

Merry Advent 🙂

The Pastor -|—

Words

/ The Pastor

Most holy and awesome God, with simple but powerful words, you created the heavens and the earth.  
With spoken words you called your servants to prophesy and proclaim.  
With words you called forth Lazarus from bondage in a tomb.  
With words you proclaim forgiveness, life and salvation.
 And with words you create, build and maintain faith.  

How I am in awe of your Word, for your Word is lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Thank you God for your holy Word through Jesus Christ our Lord and King.

But Lord, I also ask that you may bless my words.  Too often we use words to bring people down through gossip and bearing false witness.  May our witness be true as it blesses and praises your holy name.  May we defend people, speak well of them and explain their actions in the kindest way.  May people see our worship of you through our words.

Dear Lord, may your name be praised throughout the whole world and may your word go out and do what it set out to do.  Bless this day and may our worship be pleasing to your ears.  In Jesus name I pray…

Amen!

Worship the Lord with all your heart for God is worthy.

The pastor -|—

A big fat lie

/ The Pastor

When I was growing up I was taught a big, fat, lie.  It was not from my parents or a teacher or some other trusted adult.  The lie came through friends who they themselves learned from someone else.  And the lie came in the form of a childhood rhyme that you probably know very well because you were taught the same big, fat, lie.  And it goes like this…

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.”

I am not too sure why I bought into that lie.  I think maybe I used it as a make-shift shield against bullies trying to make me cry (and believe me ~ I had a few of those people in my life growing up).  Maybe it was because I knew that those bullies would never use sticks and stones to actually break my bones so you might as well stop with the names.  But all the while I was using this rhyme as a weak, invisible shield, I was being hurt more than any damage that sticks and stones could inflict.

Names and words do hurt.

I started thinking about this rhyme as I began my sermon prep this week on the 8th Commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”  And as I was remembering, all those names I was called as a child came rushing back.  I still remember the pain those names caused.  I still remember the laughter of those kids.  In a way, I wish they had broken some of my bones with stick and stones instead of using words to hurt me.

And today, the use of words continues to be a problem as many kids experience bullying online.  Even rough and tough football players are not immune to the power of words.  In the book of James, the author says that the tongue  is something that can not be tamed.  The same tongue we use to praise God is used to hurt our neighbor.  And I think the worst thing about this is that often times we don’t realize the pain we are causing because so many people try to hide their pain lest they look weak.

Maybe we spread a rumor about someone (true or not, it doesn’t matter).  Maybe we attack a person’s character without all the facts.  Maybe we participate in back stabbing.  Maybe we betray a person’s trust through sharing a secret.  Maybe we use words in a way that sounds comforting but really causes more hurt.  Whatever the form and context of our words, we need to be very mindful of what we are saying.  Luther’s Small Catechism has a great explanation of this commandment; one that we would do well to remember:

We are to fear and love God so that we do not betray, slander, or lie about our neighbor, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain his actions in the kindest way.

Romans 10 says that faith comes from hearing.  Since that is true then how do we proclaim the Gospel and build faith if we are using words in destructive ways?  May God be praised in all we SAY and do.

Dear Lord, grant me a kind tongue that seeks to speak well of others and gives you glory.  May my words not harm my neighbor but rather lift them up. In Jesus name, Amen.

The pastor -|—