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.
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!
God of Moses, the everlasting I Am, help me to learn that I am not what others think of me– I am not even what I think of me. May I remember that my worth is found in you, for I am who I am– your beloved child.
Exodus 3:13-15 Then Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the People of Israel and I tell them, ‘The God of your fathers sent me to you’; and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What do I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I-AM-WHO-I-AM. Tell the People of Israel, ‘I-AM sent me to you.’” God continued with Moses: “This is what you’re to say to the Israelites: ‘God, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob sent me to you.’ This has always been my name, and this is how I always will be known.
1 John 3: 1 What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are.
Sovereign God, tender healer, who offers to carry our burdens, help me to rest in you– for how often I get worn out hustling day in and out trying to please and earn and control, thinking it all depends on me– when in truth it all depends on you, the one who holds all things together in vibrant harmony.
Matthew 11:28-30 Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
Colossians 1:17-20 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. He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so expansive, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.
Creator of all, you named me into being stitched me together in my mother’s womb and called me good. May I remember– deeper than in my bones– may I remember in the depths of my soul: I am good. I am valuable. I am loved. Because I forget over and over, and in the forgetting I follow any path and lose the very person you created me to be. So may I remember every day every hour every minute every moment because you, oh creator, loved me first. Because in you, oh creator, I am held. Because in you, oh creator, I am found.
Psalm 139: 13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, the days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.
1 John 4:19 We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
Jesus, writer in the dirt, your way is not one of shame. Help us move through our feelings of shame, inadequacy and brokenness toward your true story of acceptance, wholeness, grace, and love– for you are greater than our worried hearts, and know more about us than we do ourselves.
John 8:1-11 Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them. The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, “The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.” Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt. Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. “Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?” “No one, Master.” “Neither do I,” said Jesus. “Go on your way. From now on, don’t sin.”
1 John 3:18-20 My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
God of restoration and renewal I pray for your healing for all of us who are sick in body, mind, heart, or spirit. Walk with us on the path of illness because deep healing is found in you.
Matthew 9:35-38 Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. “What a huge harvest!” he said to his disciples. “How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!”
Jesus, you are a respite for the weary who come to you worn out– exhausted by the brokenness of the world, battered by violence, disaster and destruction, groaning within systems and cultures of oppression. We ask for your mercy. We ask for your justice. We ask to live freely and lightly because we yearn for the unforced rhythms of your grace.
Matthew 11:28-30 Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me–watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
Our Master Gardener, 