Living on a Prayer

Our Father,

Holy God who is Father, Son, and Spirit,

from all eternity you have existed in perfect love.

Thank you for drawing us into that same love today.

You do not merely answer our requests;

you welcome us into your heart.

How wonderful it is that you count me as yours.

You have made us co-heirs with Christ your Son,

and given us an eternal inheritance.

Gratefully – though undeservedly –

through faith in Jesus and his saving work,

we receive our adoption into your family.

I am loved.

I am yours.

Holy Spirit, help us to live each day

from this transforming truth.

Forgive us for the moments we forget who we are

and to whom we belong.

We are loved.

We are yours.

May this knowing shape our praying –

not as religious activity, but as communion;

not as striving, but as abiding.

In our rising and our resting,

in our working and our playing,

in our serving and relating,

may the whole of our lives become worship.

May the essence of our days say to you, our God:

You are loved.

We are yours.

Amen.

Our Father who is for us,

our God who has good for us,

our refuge and our shield.

When life presses in, when opposition rises –

you are where our help comes from!

To you I lift up my eyes.

To you I run.

Jesus, you taught us to pray and not give up.

You called us to boldness.

You told us to keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.

You are not irritated by our persistence – you welcome it.

So we come before you now

with our hurts and our setbacks,

with our questions and our longings.

We bring you what we don't understand.

We bring you what we cannot fix.

We bring you what feels too heavy to carry.

We refuse to give up.

We refuse to believe that silence means absence.

With us there may be darkness, but with you there is light.

With us there may be fear, but with you there is peace.

Holy Spirit, remind us of your promises.

Strengthen us to intercede for one another.

For those facing real need today – be near.

For those who feel like giving up – hold them fast.

For those who are weary in asking – renew their strength.

We believe that you care and are not lacking in power.

We believe that you are working – even now.

So we choose faith.

We choose perseverance.

We choose prayer.

For if you are for us, who can be against us?

To you be glory and dominion forever.

Amen.

Our Father,

God of hope,

God with us in the valleys,

God who redeems what feels wasted and restores what feels lost.

We come to you with the weight of our days

and with the quiet longings we barely know how to name.

When life feels uncertain,

when the future feels fragile,

when our hearts grow tired and our eyes grow dim –

anchor us again in who you are.

We believe that you are not passive in our story.

You are weaving.

You are restoring.

You are redeeming.

Give us a holy imagination

to see beyond what is,

to trust you for what could be,

to believe that your goodness is nearer than we think.

When hope feels small, breathe on it.

When hope feels shaken, steady it.

When hope feels lost, resurrect it!

Make us people who carry hope,

who speak hope,

who embody hope,

who expect to see your goodness in the land of the living.

Our hope is not fragile.

It is anchored in you who does not change.

Jesus Christ, our living hope.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord

forever and ever.

Amen.