Ordinary lives in extraordinary times
Classroom prayers in a time of war
Mary H. Schertz
Gracious and holy God,
in these days of national division and debate
about war and peace, morality and immorality,
we come before you with our failures to love you fully,
and our confusions of heart and spirit.
Grant us purity of mind and purpose, O God, as we live this day.
Give us the courage to ask the hard questions
and the endurance to withstand the temptation
offered by easy answers.
Grant us also, O God, the humility to seek the truth,
the wisdom to recognize it,
and the strength to live it.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
Compassionate sovereign of the world,
we acknowledge that like Mary and Zecharia,
we experience our life in the world
with both fear and faith.
At times, life, in all its unexpected twists and turns,
with all its vagaries and uncertainties,
threatens to overwhelm us.
At other times, we see glimpses of the coherence and compassion
of your mind and heart, O God,
underlying and overlaying,
surrounding and indwelling
the confusion of our humanity.
Grant us that inner sight;
help our unbelief.
In the grace of Jesus, Amen.
Lord, as we gather today, in our ordinary way,
in your presence, and in the presence of one another,
we are all too aware that much is amiss in the world.
We are all too aware, that even in this quiet moment,
some of your beloved people and parts of your beloved earth
are being visited by death and destruction.
For the sake of the world you love,
we pray that our simple commitment to the routines of worship
will not be an escape from life
but a sacrament of hope
that turns us back to the needs of the world
more grounded in your love.
May our attention to ordinary things
be a way of saying that we trust you
as the one who cradles the world and its people
in your all-embracing arms.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
Lord, we confess that even in these days of horror and sadness,
we find ourselves caught up in the wonder of life.
We take joy in the way the winter sky melts
from darkness into dawn,
the navy shades of night easing
into lighter shades of day.
We giggle with our children
and take satisfaction in hard work and good food.
O Lord, help us find authentic ways
to live with sadness and with joy,
with tears and with laughter.
Help us find our way to the beauty and the pain
of the man of Galilee,
who healed the sick
and sat with friends at table.
Amen.
Gracious God, we come to you in our vulnerability, our human frailty.
We see and feel the rising winds,
the swirling dust, the swaying trees,
We confess that, like the disciples on the sea of Galilee,
we are afraid.
Anxiety presses upon us from within and from without.
In the midst of the looming storm,
we cry out to you,
the one we follow,
the one we love,
the one we try to be like.
In all the pressures of our daily lives, O God,
grant us the calm, sure knowledge
that you are with us and will always be with us.
Help us learn to trust you-
whether the storms bring new life out of dry ground,
or leave us damaged and in need of help.
In the name of the one who calmed the storms, Amen.
Compassionate and gracious God, in these days of darkness,
when the forces of destruction are unleashed in the world,
we come to you,
not knowing what else we can do
but throw ourselves upon your mercy.
We place into your care all who are affected and afflicted
by the war in Iraq-
those who are fighting,
those who are fleeing,
those who are wounded, orphaned,
homeless, hungry, dying.
Grant us the strength, O God, to pray, with Zecharia, so long ago:
"By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace." Amen.
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