Jesus, wondrous water walker, help us to be like Peter– boldly asking in trust to join you on your sea walk, and then upon looking down at the raging murky water beneath his feet became terrified and screamed out in a swirl of doubt and faith, “Master, save me!”– and you, Jesus, did not hesitate to reach down and grab his hand; for you are with us in the wild, whirling, waves of our lives, and you are eager and mighty to save.
Matthew 14: 28-31 Peter suddenly bold said, “Master if it’s really you, call me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come ahead.” Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, “Master, save me!” Jesus didn’t hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand. Then he said, “Faint-heart, what got into you?”
God, our master storyteller whose epic saga stretches to infinity, help us to do the work of healing in our own lives and in the world so that the next generations can be a little freer– for we do not see the ripples our lives make, but you know their significance and are always leading us toward the arc of love– if we pay attention.
2 Peter 3: 8-9 Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.
Ephesians 4: 14-16 No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are easy prey for predators. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.
God of night, God of peaceful darkness, Creator of the crickets’ lullaby and cool breezes through cracked windows, we pray for your rest tonight– for even you require rest and replenishment, and we are created in your image.
Genesis 2:2 By the seventh day God had finished his work. On the seventh day he rested from all his work. God blessed the seventh day. He made it a Holy Day, because on that day he rested from his work, all the creating God had done.
Our master gardener, keeper of the flora and fauna, the plants and the people, help us to remember that we are meant to nurture and nourish one another in this great dance of giving and receiving, living and dying– for we are interdependent, intended for harmony, each contributing to your glory.
Psalm 104: 14-31 Oh yes, God brings grain from the land, wine to make people happy, their faces glowing with health, a people well-fed and hearty. God’s trees are well-watered–the Lebanon cedars he planted. Birds build their nests in those trees; look–the stork at home in the treetop. Mountain goats climb about the cliffs; badgers burrow among the rocks. The moon keeps track of the seasons, the sun is in charge of each day. When it’s dark and night takes over, all the forest creatures come out. The young lions roar for their prey, clamoring to God for their supper. When the sun comes up, they vanish, lazily stretched out in their dens. Meanwhile, men and women go out to work, busy at their jobs until evening. What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations. Oh, look–the deep, wide seas, brimming with fish past counting, sardines and sharks and salmon. Ships plow those waters, and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them. All the creatures look expectantly to you to give them their meals on time. You come, and they gather around: you open your hand and they eat from it. If you turned your back, they’d die in a minute–take back your spirit and they die, revert to original mud; send out your spirit and they spring to life–the whole countryside in bloom and blossom. The glory of God–let it last forever! Let God enjoy his creation!
Psalm 65: 9-13 Oh, visit the earth, ask her to join the dance! Deck her out in spring showers, fill the God-Rive with living water. Paint the wheat fields golden. Creation was made for this! Drench the plowed fields, soak the dirt clods with rainfall as harrow and rake bring her to blossom and fruit. Snow-crown the peaks with splendor, scatter rose petals down your paths, all through the wild meadows, rose petals. Set the hills to dancing, dress the canyon walls with live sheep, a drape of flax across the valleys. Let them shout, and shout, and shout! Oh, oh, let them sing!
All expansive God, one who sees all and whose hands and heart are always open– help me surrender all my defense mechanisms to you. Help me to recognize all the ways I am closed off to you, to the world. Begin to open my heart, and turn my whole being toward you, for that is what it means to live in faith– trusting every part of me to you, allowing myself to receive the grace you so long to give.
Psalm 139: 1-6 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight. You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too–your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful–I can’t take it all in!
Proverbs 3: 5-6 Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything yo do, everywhere you go; he’s the one will keep you on track.
Isaiah 30: 18 But God’s not finished. He’s waiting around to be gracious to you. He’s gathering strength to show mercy to you. God takes the time to do everything right—everything. Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.
Master potter, brilliant creator, I have hidden myself within the lump of clay. Chip away at my false beliefs and defense mechanisms. Sculpt me into the form you desire, the beautiful, precious essence of me you dreamed up and placed in the world– for I yearn to emerge.
Isaiah 64:8 Still, God, you are our Father. We’re the clay and you’re our potter: All of us are what you made us.
God of silence, teach me to quiet myself and listen deeply to you– for it is in the silence and stillness that you hold me.
1 Kings 19: 11-13 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?
God of Hagar, the divine alive who sees me, help me to see myself as you see me– because that would change everything.
Genesis 16:13-14 She (Hagar) answered God by name, praying to the God who spoke to her, “You’re the God who sees me! Yes! He saw me: and then I saw him!” That’s how that desert spring got named “God-Alive-Sees-Me Spring.” That spring is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
Wildly wonderful world maker, teach us to love creation as you do because, maybe then we would learn to stop destroying and start stewarding– to live in harmony, joining in this great interconnected dance– for all your creation is meant to bring you glory.
Psalm 104: 24 What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations.
Isaiah 55: 12-13 “So you’ll go out in joy, you’ll be led into a whole and complete life. the mountains and hills will lead the parade, bursting with song. All the trees of the forest will join the procession, exuberant with applause. No more thistles, but giant sequoias, no more thornbushes, but stately pines–monuments to me, to God, living and lasting evidence of God.”
Colossians 1: 15-18 We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.
Our master gardener, train me on the trellis in which I should grow. Show me where to extend and deepen my roots. Show me where to reach out my new tendrils, grasping on tight through the storms and the droughts– for I want to be healthy and bear fruit.
Jeremiah 17: 7-8 “But blessed is the man who trusts me, God,the woman who sticks with God. They’re like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers—never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.
Matthew 13: 23 “The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.”
John 15: 16 “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.”
Our Master Gardener, 