A Prayer for the Sixth Sunday of Easter (Year A)

[This is one of a series of Prayers for the Christian Year. To see the other posts, click here.]

Living, Loving Father,

As Your people, whom You have given life, we bless You today. You have always been faithful to us, and so it is that today, in every corner of our world, we, Your people, offer You our highest praise.

You have been ever-faithful, breathing Your own life into us, and providing us with everything that we need. Yet we have not been kept from all difficulty; the suffering in our world is immense. Even if we are not those who have been in the fire, or right in the middle of the storm, at times we have all felt the flames, or had the sense that a river is sweeping us away while we are completely helpless. And as we pray these things, we are mindful of our brothers and sisters in our own neighborhoods, and in other parts of our country and our world whose difficulties and suffering are much greater than our own. Please comfort those who have lost everything at the hand of nature, or because of the senseless acts of others. As so many are hurting today, we realize that each and every day, many will suffer tremendously precisely because they have done right. Because they love You, as we do, many will give up everything, including their very lives, today.

All of these burdens can feel so heavy, as if we are being crushed. Yet You have promised us, and indeed we have experienced, that we never face these things alone. This is as true for the children abandoned in the streets of our world as it is for each of us today. You have not left us alone. You are not far from any of Your children. Although we come to prayer today to seek You, praying makes us aware that You have come seeking each of us.

Even in suffering, we realize that You are near. When we consider the life, death, and resurrection of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, we see One who knows suffering, who suffered tremendously once for all of us, so that we might be reconciled to You, so that we might love You and experience the joy of walking in Your commands, so that we might see You more clearly and be made clearer channels of Your grace to a desperate world.

You have heard us as we have prayed today, and we bless You. Even though so many things could be taken from us at any moment, Your steadfast love will never leave us. We see this most clearly in Jesus, who lived in You, and who invites us to live in Him as He lives in us through the Holy Spirit.

Therefore it is as Your beloved children and Jesus' beloved students that we pray again together the prayer that He taught us, saying,

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours now and for ever. Amen

Notes:

The readings for this week, on which this prayer is based, are:

  • Acts 17:22-31: This is the sixth of eight weeks (from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday) when our reading that would normally come from the Old Testament comes instead from the Book of Acts. This passage is Paul's witness to the Greeks in Athens, identifying the one whom they worshipped as the "unknown god" as the creator of the world and all that it is in it, who is not far from us, and who raised Jesus from the dead.
  • Psalm 66:8-20: A song of praise to God for his faithfulness through intense trials, and a promise to keep God's commands.
  • 1 Peter 3:13-22: This is the fifth of six consecutive readings from 1 Peter, which heavily emphasizes the life we are to live in light of Jesus’ resurrection. In this passage, Peter encourages his readers (who were likely suffering significantly) by reminding them of the blessing that is theirs since they were God's people suffering for doing God's will.
  • John 14:15-21: This is the third of four gospel readings from John during the Easter season. (Most of this year’s gospel readings come from Matthew) It is also the second of three that come from John’s account of Jesus’ last night with his disciples, after washing their feet and prior to his arrest. This week's passage follows immediately upon last week's reading, where Jesus told his disciples that he was going away and that he is the way. We read this week that Jesus assures his friends that as they keep his commands, the Holy Spirit ("Advocate/Counselor" and "Spirit of truth") will be in them, and will be the means of Christ himself being in them, after they are able to see him no longer.

(Ecumenical version of The Lord’s Prayer from The United Methodist Hymnal)

 

A Prayer for the Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year A)

[This is one of my Prayers for the Christian Year. To see the other posts, click here.]

Living, Loving Father,

It is in You, O Lord, that we seek our refuge. When we pray, You incline Your ear to us, and we need today for You to rescue us, quickly. You are a strong fortress where we can run and find shelter. You are our rock, on whom we can lean completely.

You, our living rock, can also make us into living stones, and through us You are doing Your work of building Your kingdom here. Yet we know part of what this means, because You sent Your own Son, Jesus, as the cornerstone, and still He was rejected and cast aside. So be it for us also if it is to be the same as we follow Him along His way out of darkness into marvelous light. We will choose to go His way, for we know that although He was rejected by people, He was chosen and precious in Your sight, O God, and Your is the approval we long for most of all.

So, Father, just as Jesus did, and later his servant Stephen, into Your hands we entrust our spirits. In Your mercy, receive us, so that by Your grace we may learn to be merciful to others, even if they seek to take our lives. Our times are in Your hands, O God. So as we live, help us to live for You, and when we die, may we be able to see Your face and walk even more fully in Your light.

We know that You chose Jesus, for He revealed You to us perfectly. In his life, death, and resurrection among us, He was as You are. Father, we ask that You would  make us like Him, that You would dwell in us and do Your work, and that our lives would bring You glory just as His has done.

We pray all of these things in the name of Your beloved Son, and it is as His followers that we pray today the prayer that He taught us, saying,

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours now and for ever. Amen.

Notes:

The readings for this week, on which this prayer is based, are:

  • Acts 7:55-60: This is the fifth of eight weeks (from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday) when our reading that would normally come from the Old Testament comes instead from the Book of Acts. This passage follows Stephen's speech, in which he summarized God's saving acts in history. When these acts reached their culmination in sending Jesus as the Messiah, those listening to Stephen picked up rocks and stoned him to death, and Stephen became the first Christian martyr.
  • Psalm 31:1-5,15-16: David identifies God as his strong fortress and rock of refuge, and pleas for deliverance from his enemies.
  • 1 Peter 2:2-10: This is the fourth of six consecutive readings from 1 Peter, which heavily emphasizes the life we are to live in light of Jesus' resurrection. In this passage, Peter uses a play on words on his own name, which means stone or rock, and says that as Christ was God's chosen cornerstone, so too are his followers to be made into living stones to be useful in God's work.
  • John 14:1-14: This is the second of four gospel readings from John during the Easter season. (Most of this year's gospel readings come from Matthew) It is also the first of three that come from John's account of Jesus' last night with his disciples, after washing their feet and prior to his arrest. In part of this passage, Jesus assures them that they do not need to be afraid, although he is about to leave them, because they know the way to the place where he will be going. Confused by this, one of them asked, "We don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way?" to which Jesus gave his famous reply, "I am the way, the truth and the life..."

(Ecumenical version of The Lord's Prayer from The United Methodist Hymnal)

Prayers for the Christian Year

I have benefited greatly for several years from reading the Scriptures according to the Revised Common Lectionary, which is a three-year schedule of passages to be used in worship based on the seasons of the Christian year. I've also found it a very helpful exercise to try not only to read these passages repeatedly during their respective weeks, but then to also write a prayer in my own words based on the readings. I will share the prayer that I write during the week leading up to the Sunday when the Scripture passages will be read by all of the churches around the world who follow this schedule of readings. If you're a pastor, or someone else who leads your congregation in prayer on Sundays, please feel free to adapt and use these prayers however it may be helpful.

Since one of the readings is almost always a Psalm, and the Psalms have been the most widely-used tool in prayer for an innumerable group of people seeking God throughout the centuries (including Jesus and his first disciples!), I try to begin my prayer with the way that the particular week's Psalm addresses God. Then, there are often connections between the other readings which I try to pray in a way that will allow them to sink more deeply into my mind.

Because I've also found great value in praying The Lord's Prayer together in worship, as well as repeatedly on my own during the week, I always try to follow my own words in prayer with the words that Jesus himself taught us when he said, "When you pray, pray like this, 'Our Father in heaven..."

Prayers posted so far:

Year A

Year B

A Prayer for Holy (Maundy) Thursday

"O God, by the example of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ,you taught us the greatness of true humility, and call us to watch with him in his passion. Give us grace to serve one another in all lowliness, and to enter into the fellowship of his suffering; in his name and for his sake. Amen."

- By W.E. Orchard, from The United Methodist Book of Worship

A Prayer for Wednesday of Holy Week

"Most merciful God,your blessed Son, our Savior, was betrayed, whipped, and his face spat upon. Grant us grace to endure the sufferings of the present time, to overcome all that seeks to overwhelm us, confident of the glory that shall yet be revealed; through Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Amen."

-From The Book of Common Prayer

A Prayer for Tuesday of Holy Week

"Holy and compassionate God, your dear Son went not up to joy before he suffered pain,and entered not into glory before he was crucified. Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son, our Savior. Amen."

- From The Book of Common Prayer