I decided to post the text of my prayer for some context. I wrote this for use on Memorial Day, 2008 (someone else preached)
Sermon text: Matthew 22:34-40
“Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
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Thanksgiving
(Ad-lib about Memorial Day and those veterans who have sacrificed and are sacrificing for our freedoms and our country.)
Praise
Psalm 77 – READ
Confession
Forgive us for trivializing sin – not just that we take known sin lightly in our own lives, but that we have failed to see the depth of our sin. For you who said “Do not murder” told us that to hate in your heart is murder. You who said “do not commit adultery” said that lust in one’s heart is adultery. Sin is not just the things we do and the things we don’t do, but it permeates the very thoughts of our hearts, the desires and motives we have. We lower the bar only for ourselves, yet judge others swiftly. We point at “them” and thank you that we are not like they are – just like the Pharisee did as he looked down at the tax collector. We speak “Christianese” and eat Christian cookies and wear Christian underwear and huddle together, sheltered from the world - but we miss your heart by a mile! Father, too often we are like those you condemned as “whitewashed tombs” – looking good on the outside but full of dead men’s bones! We have allowed style to become a substitute for substance. Lord, forgive us of our cultural Christianity that only allows those who are like us to find a place at our table, where we fear those who are different and those who do not do everything the way we prefer. If you died to redeem someone, who are we to say that we do not want these “new people” to come in and change “our church?” Forgive us, Father of so much pride and hate towards others.
Father, we have failed to love you as we ought. We have allowed other things to come before you. We have allowed even church activities to become a substitute for you. We do not lift you up to one another in your splendor and Glory that we might gaze upon you – instead, we bark rules at one another, quick to point out to others where they fail. We devour one another and shoot our own wounded and let Satan roar in laughter at the way we relate to one another. Perhaps worse yet, because we reduce the relationship we have with you to just duty, obedience and rules, others do not see you as the Supreme Treasure of our lives that you should be! There is no reason in us that we should be yours!
Father, without your action on our behalf, we would truly be without hope, waiting only for your Holy, Righteous and True Wrath. Forgive us Father. Give us hearts that long for you above all else, and hearts that are responsive to your Spirit. Help us not to judge one another according to our standards and the way we think things should be. We are your people, the sheep of your pasture and this is your church.
Supplication
You know our needs – there is nothing we can tell you or even think that you don’t already know. But you tell us to bring our concerns to you and lay them at your feet. We trust you – help us to grow in our trust. Your answer is always best. We are hurting Lord, sometimes even by our own hand …
Perhaps there is a man or woman here today who told their spouse they no longer love them
Perhaps there is a mother with a child that has shut her out of their life
Perhaps there is a man who just doesn’t know what to do next and death is beginning to look like a good thing
Perhaps there are others with private pain but who put on masks of smiles to come to church who long for someone with answers to their questions – or maybe just someone who cares enough to listen
Others are out of work. Still others are battling potentially fatal diseases. Many of us have relatives who do not know you, and our hearts weep in agony at what awaits them if they do not come to you.
Lord, I know each person here needs you. I need you. Not the caricature we build of you – the safe and easy God who serves our dreams - but you in fullness and reality. You are the only hope for the unloved spouse, for the shut-out mother, for the man in despair, for those with private pain, and for everyone. You are the only hope for the unloving spouse, the unloving daughter, and for those who hurt others. And you are my only hope.
We ask you to watch over our graduates. Draw them to yourself. Help them to see past our hypocrisy and shortcomings to see you for who you are – and that they might fall in love with you above all else! Let our graduates see you in such a way as to make everything else this world has to offer seem like rubbish in comparison. Let Sarah, Trisha, Michael, Tim, Abby, Brendan, Phillip, Erica, Katie, Craig, and Nikki all treasure you above all else – that they may follow you all the days of their lives.
This list of our concerns is long – but you know every detail of every situation. You never sleep, get busy, get tired, or have something better to do, but somehow you are able to give full attention to the millions of prayers being prayed this morning. We do not pray to give you new information, nor to bend you to our will. We do not pray to you as a vending machine, nor do we pray in a certain way - dotting our I’s and crossing our T’s - in order to earn your answer to us. No, we come to you as a beloved child sitting in his daddy’s lap, perhaps all muddy from playing outside, yet loved all the same. This is about Your Glory, Your Kingdom, and Your Name. Hear us O Lord, not because we are good, but only because we are yours! Answer us as you see fit not for our will to be done or our name to be made great, but for your will to be done and Your Name to made Great through all time! Yours is the Kingdom! Yours is the Power! Yours is the Glory, forever and ever, AMEN!
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