Tuesday Morning

Season:

Lent

Tuesday, March 2

Morning

Read/Sing:

Psalm 34; 146

Read:

Jeremiah 2:1-13, 29-32

Romans 1:16-25

John 4:43-54

Pray:

Eternal God, we rejoice this morning in the gift of life, which we have received by your grace, and the new life you give in Jesus Christ.  Especially we thank you for

    the love of our families...

    the affection of our friends...

    strength and abilities to serve your purpose today...

    this community in which we live...

    opportunities to give as we have received...

God of grace, we offer our prayers for the needs of others and commit ourselves to serve them even as we have been served in Jesus Christ.  Especially we pray for

    those closest to us, families, friends, neighbors...

    refugees and homeless men, women and children...

    the outcast and persecuted...

    those from whom we are estranged...

    the church in Africa...

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen. 

Monday Evening

Season:

Lent

Monday, March 1

Evening

Read/Sing:

Psalm 121; 6

Read:

Jeremiah 1:11-19

Romans 1:1-15

John 4:27-42

Pray:

We rejoice in your generous goodness, O God, and celebrate your lavish gifts to us this day, for you have shown your love in giving Jesus Christ for the salvation of the world.  Especially we give thanks for

    the labors of those who have served us today...

    friends with whom we have shared...

    those whom we love and who have loved us...

    opportunities for our work to help others...

    all beauty that delights us...

Gracious God, we know you are close to all in need, and by our prayers for others we come closer to you.  We are bold to claim for others your promises of new life in Jesus Christ, as we claim them for ourselves.  Especially we pray for

    those in dangerous occupations...

    physicians and nurses...

    those who are ill or confined to nursing homes...

    those who mourn...

    the Roman Catholic Church...

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.

From Wretchedness on Out

 Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel Notes from Underground is summarized this way:

"...Dostoevsky's protagonist explores the underground of his own tormented life, a confession unmatched in literature for its raging paradoxes, its odious admissions, its frightful insights into the chaos of human consciousness."

This protagonist is disagreeing with the idea that humankind make it their object to live their lives as morally and rationally as possible, even at the best of times.  He writes:

"Now I ask you: what can be expected of man since he is a being endowed with such strange qualities?  Shower upon him every earthly blessing, drown him in a sea of happiness, so that nothing but bubbles of bliss can be seen on the surface; give him economic prosperity such that he should have nothing else to do but sleep, eat cakes and busy himself with the continuation of his species and even then out of sheer ingratitude, sheer spite, man would play you some nasty trick  He would even risk his cakes and would deliberately desire the most fatal rubbish, the most uneconomical absurdity, simply to introduce into all this positive good sense his fatal fantastic element.  It is just his fantastic dreams, his vulgar folly, that he will desire to retain, simply in order to prove to himself - as though that were so necessary  - that men still are men and not the keys of a piano, which the laws of nature threaten to control so completely that soon one will be able to desire nothing but by the calendar." (Notes from Underground, 50)

This is a consistent ambiguity in Dostoevsky's work: humanity's greatness and wretchedness.  What Dostoevsky does so well is to expose the wretchedness that is so often covered over.  Though the value of seeing this may be doubted, having the wretchedness exposed is an important first step toward diagnosing and overcoming it.  It is especially valuable that Dostoevsky's work on the whole serves to illuminate the redemptive arc of Christ's love, penetrating more deeply than to play on us as piano keys, but rather to work on us from our wretchedness on out.  He diagnoses it, and over the course of our life, delivers us from it.

Monday Morning

Season:

Lent

Monday, March 1

Morning

Read/Sing:

Psalm 119:73-80; 145

Read:

Jeremiah 1:11-19

Romans 1:1-15

John 4:27-42

Pray:

We praise you, God our creator, for your handiwork in shaping and sustaining your wondrous creation.  Especially we thank you for

    the miracle of life and the wonder of living...

    particular blessings coming to us in this day...

    the resources of the earth...

    gifts of creative vision and skillful craft...

    the treasure stored in every human life...

We dare to pray for others, God our Savior, claiming your love in Jesus Christ for the whole world, committing ourselves to care for those around us in his name.  Especially we pray for

    those who work for the benefit of others...

    those who cannot work today...

    those who teach and those who learn...

    people who are poor...

    the church in Europe...

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.

Sunday Evening

Season:

Lent

Sunday, February 28

Evening

Read/Sing:

Psalm 42; 32

Read:

Jeremiah 1:1-10

1 Corinthians 3:11-23

Mark 3:31-4:9

Pray:

We lift our voices in prayers of praise, holy God, for you have lifted us to new life in Jesus Christ, and your blessings come in generous measure.  Especially we thank you for

    the privilege of worship and service in this congregation...

    the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ for us...

    food and drink to share in the Lord's name...

    our calling to discipleship...

We hold up before you human needs, God of compassion, for you have come to us in Jesus Christ and shared our life so we may share his resurrection.  Especially we pray for

    the healing of those who are sick...

    the comfort of the dying...

    the renewal of those who despair...

    the Spirit's power in the church...

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen. 

Generosity

Evagrius of Pontus was a very influential early Christian thinker (and practitioner) of prayer.  In writing about the sin of avarice, he writes that our need for material goods:

"suggests to the mind a lengthy old age, inability to perform manual labor (at some future date), famines that are sure to come, sickness that will visit us, the pinch of poverty, the great shame that comes from accepting the necessities of life from others." (quoted from Allen, 72)

Diogenes Allen comments:

"These thoughts fill us with anxiety and insecurity, and keep us from being generous.  Our minds become so full of the desire to gain enough material goods to make ourselves secure against every possible calamity that we fail to pay sufficient attention to either our neighbor or God.  Or if we do consider them, we do so largely in terms of how they may help make us financially secure.  One of the fruits of the Spirit, indicative of God's activity in our lives, is that we become like God - namely, generous." (Allen, Spiritual Theology, 72)

Generosity will not come from thinking about our things.  Thinking about our things as the fruit of God's activity in our lives - God's things - will help us to think and to live more generously.

Sunday Morning

Season:

Lent

Sunday, February 28

Morning

Read/Sing:

Psalm 84; 150

Read:

Jeremiah 1:1-10

1 Corinthians 3:11-23

Mark 3:31-4:9

Pray:

Mighty God of mercy, we thank you for the resurrection dawn bringing the glory of our risen Lord who makes every day new.  Especially we thank you for

    the beauty of your creation...

    the new creation in Christ and all gifts of healing and forgiveness...

    the sustaining love of family and friends...

    the fellowship of faith in your church...

Merciful God of might, renew this weary world, heal the hurts of all your children, and bring about your peace for all in Christ Jesus, the living Lord.  Especially we pray for 

    those who govern nations of the world...

    the people in countries ravaged by strife or warfare...

    all who work for peace and international harmony...

    all who strive to save the earth from destruction...

    the church of Jesus Christ in every land...

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.