A Prayer

for

January 2007

Lord, we have just celebrated Christmas again, and now we enter a new year. Help us to remember who you are and what you do for us. Look upon us and teach us to be and to do only what is most pleasing to you. Show us how to love each other the way you love us.

Bless us all, we pray. Bless the old, the young, the helpless. Protect especially the children. Defend them and keep them safe from the pain and terror of the evil ones. Save and protect the poor, homeless, sick and despairing ones who have nowhere to turn.

O God, we offer this day our prayers and thanksgiving for the common things of life, as well as the wondrous works of your creation.

In such a time as this surrounded by the great quietness instilled by your presence, yet engulfed with so many uncertainties of tomorrow, we ask that you clothe us with your Holy Spirit. Remind us, 0 God, during these times of war and rumors of war that we cannot put out the fires of destruction and death with more destruction and death. Give us the appetite to somehow study war no more and to hunger and thirst after righteousness and peace. Help us to love one another. Teach us how to become worthy disciples, that we may even offer to you our pains, our sufferings, our miseries, and ourselves.

Creator God, When you became one of us in the person of Jesus, you made the most powerful statement of all time. You speak with deeds; We speak in words. In becoming one of us, you said, "If you want to know what God looks like in your world, look at me." Our Lord Jesus Christ was the most profound expression of God in our world of space and time. But you also taught us, Lord, that every human being, each in a unique and most precious way, has a statement to make in accord with your purpose.

Thus, at the start of a new year, we commit ourselves anew to respecting your purposes, Lord, in every human being. Help us so to respect one another that war and violence become as antiquated as dinosaurs. Let us release our grudges, our anger and our pains, for these are nothing but binding chains. Let us live each day in the most loving way, the God-conscious way. Let us serve all who are in need, regardless of our human differences.

O Lord, help us to keep you in our hearts and minds, so that we can lead the world from darkness to light, from falsehood to truth and from wrong to right. Amen.

If you have questions or comments, email Tony Grant

Last Modified: 08/28/07