Breath Prayers Based on Mark 14-15

summer in the scriptures- Mark (5)

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.

How do breath prayers help you?

Share a breath prayer you’ve written.

Breath Prayers Based on Mark 14
The Plot to Kill Jesus

IN: Jesus,
OUT: Stop our scheming

IN: Jesus,
OUT: Reveal all that is hidden

IN: Jesus, deliver us
OUT: from evil and corruption

IN: Jesus, remove the violence
OUT: from our hearts, our mouths, our hands

IN: Jesus, I betray you
OUT: Jesus, I deny you

IN: Jesus,
OUT: Awaken me

IN: Jesus,
OUT: help me do what I can

IN: Jesus, I follow
OUT: Jesus, I’m yours

Breath Prayers Based on Mark 15
The Passion of the Christ

IN: Glory to you, O Christ
OUT: a willing sacrifice

IN: Glory to you, O Christ
OUT: a victim of injustice

IN: Glory to you, O Christ
OUT: flogged and mocked

IN: Glory to you, O Christ
OUT: beaten and humiliated

IN: Glory to you, O Christ
OUT: crowned with thorns

IN: Glory to you, O Christ
OUT: taunted and forsaken

IN: Glory to you, O Christ
OUT: crucified

IN: Glory to you, O Christ
OUT: laid in a tomb

_______________

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.

You’re most welcome to read along and to join the Facebook discussion group, Summer in the Scriptures. You don’t need to be a Methodist or attend a Methodist church. All are welcome and all means all.

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 <><

Breath Prayers Based on Matthew 14-15 © 2020 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Growing in Resilience: You Answer, based on Isaiah 41.17-18

lightning tree by Marilyn

Lightning Tree by Marilyn Bouchard

Growing in Resilience
Day 2, Read Isaiah 41
Reflection: You Answer, based on Isaiah 41:17-18

When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them. I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

We are dry
Brittle
Crusty
Empty

Parched with a thirst we cannot appease
Tongues heavy and stuck
No words escaping
We are too poor
Too desolate

You alone answer our silent screams
You, the Lord God

You fill and flood and quench
A wild river on the barren peaks
An ancient fountain in the deep wasteland
A still pool for resting and rooting
A spring of water gushing up to eternal life

You, answer
You, the Lord God, will never forsake

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Click Here for more on the Growing in Resilience Reading Plan sponsored by Bishop Ken Carter and the Cabinet of the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. 

You Answer © 2018 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Sermon Recording- Why Have You Forsaken Me?

jesus forsaken

Sermon Series: Final Words from the Cross
The Scriptures record Jesus speaking 7 phrases as he hung upon the cross- important and powerful final reminders of who he was and what it means to follow him.

Message: Why Have You Forsaken Me?
Scripture: Mark 15:33-36; Psalm 22
Offered 3/13/16 at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota FL

Excruciating – from the Latin ex cruces, literally “from the cross”

2 Corinthians 5:21
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Job 30:26
But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came.

Poem: You Understand My Pain by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
Click Here for the full version of this poem

I am wounded… so were you
They call me names… you heard a few
I cry at night… you cried there, too
You understand my pain

I’m unwelcome… you know the glare
I am lonely… you can compare
My choices trap… you took their snare
You understand my pain

I feel beaten… your back was scored
I have no voice… you were ignored
They pierced my heart… they pierced you more
You understand my pain

You understand my pain
You know my deepest need
When life is all but tame You clear a way for me
Forever I will claim the One who never leaves
You understand my pain

Resources for this sermon
Final Words From the Cross by Adam Hamilton
Listening at Golgotha by Peter Storey

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I’m excited to now offer mp3’s of my Sunday messages. A huge thank you to Leon and my brothers and sisters at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota for all their help in making this possible. If you’re ever in Sarasota, please drop by for worship Sundays at 9am or 10:30am, or drop by during the week for a chat or small group. You and those you love are always welcome.

© 2016 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
Contact Lisa for posting and publication considerations.