No Calamity or Chaos

Lord of All Life,

We thank you for a new day you have given us. We thank you for the gift of life. As we take yet another breath, we are reminded of your sustaining care. As we reflect on the span of our lives, we see your lovingkindness, which has held us in times of trouble and in times of celebration. We know that your mercy is a deep, deep well that never runs out. Your grace is an overflowing stream of your goodness. Your love is a warmth within and a covering, a seal that proclaims we are yours. So as we bring our whole selves to you, we can’t help but give you praise, no matter the condition we find ourselves in. 

In our anxiety, we give you praise. In our worries and fears, we give you praise. In our joys and our doubts, in all of it, we give you praise. For you are worthy of all praise. Holy and Righteous. King and Servant. Provider and Prince of Peace.

We fix our eyes upon you, Jesus. We look at your scarred hands and side. We dwell in your sacred act of death so that we might live, joined to you forevermore. We delight in your resurrection, which laughs at death and darkness. In You, our faith and resolve are strengthened, for no calamity or chaos has the final word. You do. You and your Kingdom bring teeming life into the brokenness, so that your creation and people might flourish. 

As we await your return, we accept your invitation to be empowered by your very Spirit, guided and directed by your will. We long to join with you in the renewal of all things. We pray for your Kingdom to come and your will to be done. We ask for your health and healing for those who are sick. We intercede for those who are still bound up and entangled, longing for freedom. Place holy people in their paths who embody your love and can show them new, narrow paths to your love. We stand alongside those who are short on faith, lacking hope, or tripping over unforgiveness. We know, Holy Spirit, that you can fan the flames of our faith embers. You can and do bring hope to the hopeless. And you tend to us in the ways we have been harmed, so that we might experience the freedom of forgiving. 

Jesus, you meet us in all of our humanity. We know that we are not alone. So this morning, as we draw near to you in the quiet, help us sense your presence. Give us discerning hearts and minds to be led by you in our collective prayers.

-Amen