Proper 24 (29)
October 20, 2024
Job 38:1-7, (34-41) or Isaiah 53:4-12
Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c or Psalm 91:9-16
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45
O holy One, we bow today ever aware of our deep thirst for understanding of your ways. We are often like Job and present our questions about life and the universe as if there is going to be some clear answer to the deepest and most difficult issues we face. We want to have answers to the problems of good and evil. We look upon natural disasters and question why they happen. We struggle to rid life of its ambiguity. We struggle to comprehend. We ask that you would be with us in our turmoil.
Cause us in life’s storms to pause and with the Psalmist to be still and know you. Cause us to live more easily with the ambiguities of life and to realize that many of life’s happenings do not yield to an easy understanding. Cause us to bow in awe when we experience the unbridled power of nature. Cause us to bow in awe before you who laid out the heavens and the earth.
We pray also for our world. We have not learned the futility of war as a way to resolve human differences. We project the worst of motives onto our enemies and claim the best for our own. We continue to demonize our enemies in order to justify killing them. We speak of others as evil but deny the evil which resides in us.
Deliver us , O God. Save us from refusing to learn. Help us to revise our lives and our culture so that we may gain a heart of wisdom and know you who are the beginning of wisdom.
Bring us greater hope in the future, greater belief in the human family, and less distrust of others. Bring us a better world where love and peace break forth like the springtime.
We commend to you all who suffer from illness, all who have experienced grief and loss, all who are facing unwanted transitions in their lives. Be to them a comforting hope. Amen
October 20, 2024
Job 38:1-7, (34-41) or Isaiah 53:4-12
Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c or Psalm 91:9-16
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45
O holy One, we bow today ever aware of our deep thirst for understanding of your ways. We are often like Job and present our questions about life and the universe as if there is going to be some clear answer to the deepest and most difficult issues we face. We want to have answers to the problems of good and evil. We look upon natural disasters and question why they happen. We struggle to rid life of its ambiguity. We struggle to comprehend. We ask that you would be with us in our turmoil.
Cause us in life’s storms to pause and with the Psalmist to be still and know you. Cause us to live more easily with the ambiguities of life and to realize that many of life’s happenings do not yield to an easy understanding. Cause us to bow in awe when we experience the unbridled power of nature. Cause us to bow in awe before you who laid out the heavens and the earth.
We pray also for our world. We have not learned the futility of war as a way to resolve human differences. We project the worst of motives onto our enemies and claim the best for our own. We continue to demonize our enemies in order to justify killing them. We speak of others as evil but deny the evil which resides in us.
Deliver us , O God. Save us from refusing to learn. Help us to revise our lives and our culture so that we may gain a heart of wisdom and know you who are the beginning of wisdom.
Bring us greater hope in the future, greater belief in the human family, and less distrust of others. Bring us a better world where love and peace break forth like the springtime.
We commend to you all who suffer from illness, all who have experienced grief and loss, all who are facing unwanted transitions in their lives. Be to them a comforting hope. Amen