A Prayer of Invitation
Based on Luke 14:15-24, The Parable of the Great Dinner
and Isaiah 55:1-2
Then the master said to the slave, “Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled.” – Luke 14:23
In the midst of all you are facing
Come to the One who overflows
To Living Water
Thirst no more
Come to Jesus
The One who is Wine
The Vine Eternal
Who was cut off, crushed, and poured out
For your forgiveness and deliverance
May you be rooted in Him
And gladdened in His presence
For His joy is our strength
Come
Rest against our Beloved’s breast
Nurtured and nourished
On the milk of love and kindness
Come
The bill is paid
Eat and be satisfied
With the very Bread of Heaven
Listen…
Listen……
Grace is calling
Come, the feast awaits
_______________
For the next few months, I’m reading a chapter from the Gospels each day. This is part of the Summer in the Scriptures reading plan sponsored by the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. Click Here for the reading plan.
As part of the Facebook group, I’ve been supplying prayers based on the day’s reading. Feel free to post your prayers and observations based on the readings here or there as well.
May the grace of the Gospels, the challenge, and the call, inspire us to great faith and great good works in Jesus’ name. – Lisa <
Prayer Based on Luke 7:11-17
Jesus raises the widow’s son
Luke 7:14
Then Jesus came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!”
Jesus,
We bow in awe before your mighty power
You defeat the grave
You are victorious over death
Raise us from our too soon tombs
Raise us to life
Your word awakening us
Your Divine breath once more in our lungs
Jesus,
We stand in awe before your great compassion
You defeat our isolation
You are victorious over our poverty
Raise us from the loss of place and people
Raise us to life
Your word making a way for us
Your daily bread once more in our mouths
You meet us where we are
You meet our desperate need
Hallelujah to your mercy, your favor, your presence
Amen
_______________
For the next few months, I’m reading a chapter from the Gospels each day. This is part of the Summer in the Scriptures reading plan sponsored by the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. Click Here for the reading plan.
As part of the Facebook group, I’ve been supplying prayers based on the day’s reading. Feel free to post your prayers and observations based on the readings here or there as well.
May the grace of the Gospels, the challenge, and the call, inspire us to great faith and great good works in Jesus’ name. – Lisa <
Prayer Prompts based on Luke 5:12-16
Jesus Cleanses a Leper Use one or more of the following prompts as you pray. Just finish the sentence again and again or use it as a springboard for your prayers. Share your prayer in the comments. What prayer prompt would you write? Share that as well.
Jesus, I bow before you, for you are…
Jesus, I am desperate for…
Jesus, if you choose you can… Pray this for yourself
Pray this for those you know
Pray this for groups of people or situations
Jesus, cleanse me of…
Jesus, cleanse us of…
Name all that distances you from God, others, and your true self
Jesus, restore relationship…
Jesus, I receive and celebrate your healing…
Jesus, grant me opportunities to testify…
Breath Prayers based on Luke 6:17-19; 27-36 Silently pray the phrase after IN on your breath in. Then silently pray the phrase after OUT on your breath out. Take your time. Breathe deeply. Choose one, a few, or all of them as is most helpful to you.
IN: Jesus, I’m listening
OUT:
IN: Heal me, Jesus
OUT:
IN: Deliver me, Jesus
OUT:
IN: Jesus,
OUT: Come in power
IN: Love your enemies
OUT: Do good to those who hate you
IN: Bless those who curse you
OUT:
IN: Pray for those who abuse you
OUT:
IN: Here is my cheek
OUT: Here is my shirt
IN: Jesus,
OUT: Make me generous
IN: Jesus,
OUT: Make me mercy-full
_______________
For the next few months, I’m reading a chapter from the Gospels each day. This is part of the Summer in the Scriptures reading plan sponsored by the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. Click Here for the reading plan.
As part of the Facebook group, I’ve been supplying prayers based on the day’s reading. Feel free to post your prayers and observations based on the readings here or there as well.
May the grace of the Gospels, the challenge, and the call, inspire us to great faith and great good works in Jesus’ name. – Lisa <
Long-Awaited Messiah, a prayer based on Luke 4:17-19
The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Long-awaited Messiah
Lord of Hope
Have mercy
Long-awaited Messiah
Defender of Compassion
Have mercy
Long-awaited Messiah
Provider, Protector, Liberator
Have mercy
Release us from
the chains of this moment, born of imprisoned years
the distractions and false calls of those who cannot help
Release us from
the blindness to our complicity, frailty, and poverty
the apathy keeping us from seeing, speaking and caring
Release us from
the weight of needs stealing our courage to try
the slowness of change chipping away at our enduring
Have mercy on us
Finish your good and generous work
_______________
For the next few months, I’m reading a chapter from the Gospels each day. This is part of the Summer in the Scriptures reading plan sponsored by the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. Click Here for the reading plan.
As part of the Facebook group, I’ve been supplying prayers based on the day’s reading. Feel free to post your prayers and observations based on the readings here or there as well.
May the grace of the Gospels, the challenge, and the call, inspire us to great faith and great good works in Jesus’ name. – Lisa <
Introducing All Saints Day
Traditionally celebrated on November 1st, or the Sunday closest to it
On All Saints Day, we remember…
We too are saints (1 Corinthians 1:2-3)
Our loved ones who have died
Those who have inspired our faith and led us to Christ
For some, All Saints Day is a day of thanksgiving and gratitude. A day of inspiration. For some, a day of beloved memories. A day of sadness because those memories bring a reminder of grief and loss.
Whatever you are feeling, it’s ok. All those feelings are welcome.
Reading of Matthew 14:1-21, Jesus grieving the death of John the Baptist
Jesus’ relative, John the Baptist, is unjustly imprisoned and brutally murdered. John was executed by a weak man, Herod Antipas. Herod was drunk, aroused, showing off. Herod got caught in a bad place. in order to “keep up appearances” before those who had gathered for his birthday, those he had to lead, those who might report his choice to Rome, Herod had John executed.
John had been a part of Jesus’ life from the very beginning, since before the two of them were even born. They met in their mothers’ wombs. At the meeting, John began jumping and preaching in the wilderness of his mother’s womb that Jesus was the Messiah.
John was family, literally family. If anyone understood who Jesus was and what Jesus was called to do, it was John the Baptist. If anyone understood what Jesus is going through- the sacrifices Jesus was making, the mocking, the confrontations, the homelessness, the misunderstandings, the persecution, it was John and now John is dead.
John’s disciples come to tell Jesus and Jesus is shaken by the loss. He’s grieving deeply. It’s one thing to lose a loved one, it’s another to lose a loved one in such an unjust and brutal way.
What does Jesus do? Jesus gets into a boat and crosses the Sea of Galilee to find a quiet place. But when Jesus arrives he does not find a quiet place. Jesus finds people. Thousands of people.
These folks are also grieving the death of John the Baptist. They’re heartbroken, sick, hungry, and oppressed.
Hoping to find quiet, but instead finding people, what rises up inside Jesus? What would rise up inside of you?
What rises up inside Jesus is compassion. Compassion literally means “suffering with.” He hears their cries alongside his own. He understands their pain because he is in pain. What does this pain do? This pain opens Jesus. Opens his heart in compassion, in empathy, his hands in generosity and Jesus helps.
There’s healing in the helping. He helps. He blesses. He feeds. He listens. He comforts. He heals.
Excerpt from an Instagram Post by Jen Willhoite @cobbleworks
“Jesus let himself be interrupted by the pain of others even as he was suffering, reeling in his own. He took what scraps of food and hope there were and offered it all up to Divine Love. He knew something abundant could come from something threadbare and it seemed he knew it started with honest sharing…with himself, with others, and with the Sacred One. He held it all aloft and the bread and meat grew in abundance. …
Maybe it was healing for Jesus to nourish others when he was aching. [What] if suffering alongside each other and giving our hope to God even if it’s just grieving scraps might be the thing that gets us all through. Maybe the 5,000 were fed and Jesus was fed too. Maybe we’re still being fed today by stories like this. Stories that tell us hope matters. That our pain matters. Our friendships matter. Our cries matter. Our gathering matters. Our willingness to say we’re hurting and also be interrupted by the pain of another all matters.”
Amen! It matters. It all matters.
Jesus was grieving and what rose in him was compassion and generosity and hope-
not bitterness, not revenge, not isolation, not despair
This is the power and glory of our Great God rising in the midst of death. This same power and glory of God are rising in you.
Jesus’ brokenness, the crowd’s brokenness, your brokenness – God gathers it and redeems it all. Broken hearts, broken bodies broken systems, broken bits of bread and fish- God gathers it and redeems it all.
This is our truth – God is good, God is strong, God is near. When we claim it and cling to it, this is what makes us saints.
God’s compassion, generosity, hope rising up in us so we find healing in the helping.
A saint is not a perfect person. Saints are simply people who understand their deep need and turn to God and ask God to bring good out of the pain. That’s what redeeming is- God bringing good out of the pain, out of the brokenness, out of the mess.
Today we remember we are saints. We remember the saints that have gone before us. Claim this life. Say “yes” to it. Place your trust in Jesus and follow him. Be a saint.
And so my brothers and sisters, let us remember who we are in Jesus- wounded healers, saints, set apart by God and for God.
Let us remember our purpose- to lead a devoted life of compassion, generosity, and hope. A life worthy of the calling to which we have been called. A life that inspires faith in others.
Let us recommit ourselves to this life, by first honoring the lives of those who have inspired us-
The heroic and humble who ran the race before us
The martyrs who sacrificed all for the sake of Jesus
And especially those who we have known and loved
who led us to Jesus and encouraged us to deeper faith and service
Let us pray…
Blessed are you, O Lord our God,
You surround us with witness after witness to your transforming love
Inspire us and empower us to persevere
Fill our hearts with courage
Blessed are you, O Lord our God,
You weep with us in our heartbreak and loss
Comfort us and protect us in our mourning
Fill our souls with hope
Blessed are you, O Lord our God,
You cry out in victory over sin and the grave
Raise us and release us to fulfill your calling
Fill our lives with faithfulness and good works
The message concludes with a prayer consecrating the elements for Holy Communion.
Prayer Based on Luke 7:11-17
Long-Awaited Messiah, a prayer based on Luke 4:17-19
