Category Archives: Gospel of John

Freedom and Light – Three Prayers Inspired by John 8

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Forgive by Yongsung Kim

No Condemnation by Lisa Degrenia
Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.” – John 8:10-11

Jesus, you do not condem
You reveal
You write the truth on the sands of our souls

We hear our prejudice
We see our hypocrisy

continue with your own prayers of confession

We drop the stones of our deadly traditions
Our blood trappings
We surrender our false supremancy

All have sinned, we have sinned
All fall short, we fall short
All need you and your redeeming love,
We need you and your redeeming love

Shine On by Lisa Degrenia
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12

Shine on Jesus
Shine on me 
Make me a Child of Light
Being light
Living in light
Bearing the fruit of light

Shine on me and in me  
exposing the works of my darkness to the light
Your healing, redeeming Light

Shine on me, Shine in me, Shine through me
Exposing the works of darkness around me
The oppression, corruption, destruction
Exposing them to the light
Your light
Your truth, your justice
Your mercy, your healing, your love
Your ways
Your Light

Shine on Jesus
Lord of Light
Light of the World
Shine your healing, redeeming Light

Freedom in Christ by Lisa Degrenia
Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.  The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.- John 8:34-36

Come Mighty Savior!
Wield your truth
Release the captives
Release us

Come Mighty Savior!
Shatter the bonds of
Fear and Sin
Shame and Injustice
Falsehood and Death

Come Mighty Savior!
We long for your deliverance
Take our strongholds and give us freedom
Take our numbers and give us names
Take our sentences and give us life

If you make us free
We are free indeed

Continue with your own prayers of deliverance and thanksgiving

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I’ll be posting prayers based on the Gospel of John throughout Lent and Easter this year. Thanks for coming along with me on the journey. – Lisa <><

Three Prayers Inspired by John 8 © 2023 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting without asking permission. It’s always a treat to hear from you if you’re using it. Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in a book, blog, etc.

Three Prayers Inspired by John 7

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If you know the artist, please leave a comment so I can give them credit for their work.

Are You the Messiah? by Lisa Degrenia
There was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, “He is a good man,” others were saying, “No, he is deceiving the crowd.”- John 7:12

Jesus,
you come performing signs
speaking out against evil
healing and revealing

Yet, we question
we argue
Are you the Messiah?

Yes – No – Yes – No
We build our case
he has a demon
he is a sinner
he’s untrained
he’s not what we expected
he threatens our power

Help us see you fully and truly
Help us get past our agendas
Help us place our hope in you

Prayer for Living Water by Lisa Degrenia
On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ ” – John 7:37-38

God of the Wilderness, God of the well,
We are thirsty.
We are dry and hard.
Our hearts are more stone than flesh.
Swing your saving rod once more. Crack us open.
Break us of quarreling and division.
Smash our fondness for complaining.
Shatter our mistrust, especially our mistrust of you.
Let your living water flow,
a stream in the desert, a spring of salvation.

God, we are so very thirsty.
Flood us and the world with your healing and transforming love,
through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Pause in silence to receive

Make me a River by Lisa Degrenia
Holy Spirit,
flow from my heart
quench my thirst for the holy
make me a river of compassion, justice, and hope for all

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John 7:37-39 is read on Year A — Easter — Day of Pentecost

I’ll be posting prayers based on the Gospel of John throughout Lent and Easter this year. Thanks for coming along with me on the journey. – Lisa <><

Three Prayers Inspired by John 7 © 2023 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting without asking permission. It’s always a treat to hear from you if you’re using it. Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in a book, blog, etc.

Questions and Commitment – prayers inspired by John 6.56-59

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Christ in the Wilderness by Ivan Kramskoy

Turn and Return by Lisa Degrenia
When Jesus speaks words of sacrifice, many want no part of it. They turn and walk away. You can hear the heartbreak and pain in his voice, “Do you also wish to go away?” The wound grows even deeper as Jesus states someone who stayed will eventually betray him.

We fall away
Slip away
Turn away
Hide away
Run away
Push away
Go our way
Lose our way

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your Presence?
You pursue

Woman sweeping
Spirit drawing
Hound dog tracking
Lover calling
Brood Hen gathering
Shepherd searching
Racer enduring
Father waiting… praying… hoping… looking… running… embracing
Our turning and returning

I Am Yours by Lisa Degrenia
Simon Peter answered Jesus, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” – John 6:68-69

Jesus, sometimes your way is easy
Your burden is light
It overflows with hope and consolation and grace

Sometimes your way is hard
It confronts and challenges
It offends me – what I believe and what I hold dear

Sometimes your way is mysterious
I don’t understand
I can’t see it, grasp it

Still, I follow
I want to follow

Help me hold nothing back from you
Even my doubts and questions

Help me open the deepest places of my being to you
All my weaknesses and wounds
All my strengths and privilege
All that I am and will become

You have the words of eternal life
You are the Holy One of God
I trust you
I have confidence in you
I am yours

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I’m posting prayers based on the Gospel of John throughout the seasons of Lent and Easter this year. Thanks for coming along with me on the journey. – Lisa <><

John 6:56-69 is read on Year B — Season after Pentecost — Proper 16 (21)

Questions and Commitment prayers © 2023 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia. You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting without asking permission. It’s always a treat to hear from you if you’re using it. Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in a book, blog, etc.

Jesus, Bread of Life – prayers inspired by John 6.35-58

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Christ the Saviour with Eucharist by Spanish Renaissance artist Vincente Juan Masip

Bread of Life by Lisa Degrenia
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” – John 6:35

Blessed Jesus,
Bread of Life, Bread of Heaven
coming down for us
lashed and leavened
hidden and risen

Help us hunger for you alone

Nourish us with your word and ways
Satisfy us with the feast of you

Give us this day our daily bread

You are food for the journey of faith and action
You are drink for the journey home
Life now and eternal life
Blessed be your name

Bread in the Wilderness by Lisa Degrenia
This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. – John 6:50

In the wilderness of this season
I come face-to-face with my dependence
my deepest needs, my deepest wounds
my deep capacity for denial and destruction

I come face-to-face with me
and face-to-face with you

Reveal everything I need to see
everything I need to know
everything I need to feel

Reveal and refocus my appetites
Feasting on you… your bread in place of my shame
Nurtured and nourished by your grace and hope

Reveal and heal, Blessed One
Reveal and make whole
So I may live

Morning by Morning by Lisa Degrenia
Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” – John 6:51

Morning by morning
Like the sunrise
Like manna

Morning by morning you waken and provide
You open my eyes to your presence and desire for this day
You open my ears to your encouragement, truth, and grace
You know my weakness, my weariness
You open me to your sustaining

Morning by morning you waken and provide
Now open my mouth to share what first found me
In every season and circumstance
With every soul along the way

Morning by morning you waken me
My eyes, my ears
My mouth, my heart

Morning by morning you waken me
To You and to all
Like the sunrise
Like manna
Great is your faithfulness!

Continue your prayers of adoration and commitment

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I’m posting prayers based on the Gospel of John throughout the seasons of Lent and Easter this year. Thanks for coming along with me on the journey. – Lisa <><

John 6:35, 41-51 is read on Year B — Season after Pentecost — Proper 14 (19)
John 6:51-58 is read on Year B — Season after Pentecost — Proper 15 (20)

Jesus, Bread of Life prayers © 2023 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia. You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting without asking permission. It’s always a treat to hear from you if you’re using it. Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in a book, blog, etc.

False Following, three prayers inspired by John 6.24-35

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I am the Bread of Life by Kennedy A Paizs. “I want to desire Jesus as much as I desire to eat each day to sustain my physical life.”

John 6:25-27
When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”

Why am I looking for Jesus?
Am I just looking for the goodies?

  • provision- the fill of the loaves
  • an entertaining story on the side of a mountain
  • comfort and blessing since so much of life is insecure
  • an escape to a better place beyond this life

There is a huge difference between using Jesus as a means to an end and desiring a relationship with Jesus for who he is. – Lisa <><

You Offer Me You by Lisa Degrenia
Jesus, you offer me yourself
Not a philosophy to follow
Not a commodity to use
Not a means to an end

You offer me you
Flesh and Blood
Bread and Salvation

Forgive my shallow desires for your bread alone
They dishonor and cheapen the fullness of you

Continue your prayers of confession

Open me to your great gift
Every part
Open me to give myself in return
Every part

Help Us Choose by Lisa Degrenia
We label you prophet
Miracle worker
Healer

We expect you to be the king we want
Overthrow our enemies
Bring us peace and plenty

Yes, there are signs
but they point to a cross

Help us choose you and your way
Help us choose the way of the cross

False Following by Lisa Degrenia
Jesus, forgive my false following
My misplaced priorities
For using you instead of loving you

Nurture true faith and trust in me
To love you first and always
To love you for you as you love me for me

Reorder my consuming
Now feasting on your presence
You are my bread, my drink, my life

Continue your prayers of adoration and commitment

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I’m posting prayers based on the Gospel of John throughout the seasons of Lent and Easter this year. Thanks for coming along with me on the journey. – Lisa <><

John 6:24-35 is read on Year B — Season after Pentecost — Proper 13 (18)
and on Year C — Season after Pentecost — Thanksgiving Day, USA & Canada 

Three prayers based on John 6:24-35 © 2023 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia. You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting without asking permission. It’s always a treat to hear from you if you’re using it. Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in a book, blog, etc.