Prayer of the Day

Abba, today, I pray.

I pray with words that elude me and with scattered thoughts.

I pray out of the distractions of my soul.

I pray out of profound need to connect with loose strands and slippery handles.

I pray with little to offer.

I pray without knowing that I can claim the purest of motives or ...

That I can even know my motives.

But still, I pray.

I pray knowing that everything hinges on this connection and ...

That everything hinges on You.

I pray with a a long history of saying the same things  ....

Over and over and ...

Of making grand declarations and commitments and then,

Seeking Your forgiveness when I have failed.

I come to You in prayer unprepared, unwashed, unsure of myself.

I am sure of You in my own unsure way.

I come needing a touch and more.

I come on behalf of a world for which I really do not know how to pray.

I come this way because it is the most authentic way, in this moment, for me to come.

I come on behalf of millions who will gather in the next few hours ...

Some to speak and some to hear.

May the hearers speak and the speakers listen and may each do both and ...

May Your word break through.

Troubling word.

Truthful word.

Transforming word.

Take Your community of the called out today and ...

Fashion them into the body of Christ ....

Adorn them as the bride of Christ ...

Strengthen them as the temple of the Spirit ...

Challenge them as the apostles of Jesus ...

Fill them as vessels of grace ...

Unite them as Your family ...

Send them out as ambassadors for Christ.

Remove the impediments.

Fill the emptiness.

Heal the flaws.

Display the scars and marks of solidarity with Jesus.

Teach us and equip us to love one another.

Call us again to love the broken and marginalized.

Fill us with courage and hope.

May we be both pastoral and prophetic.

May we be priests to each other and to the world.

May the words we speak and the meditations we ponder be pleasing to You.

May this prayer be lifted from the faulty vessel that prays it and ...

Amplified before You as an offering of love.

In Jesus; Name.

Amen.