40 Days
May 40 Days
Of Lenten wilderness lead
To a greater awareness
Of our great need,
And of Your great love.
May 40 Days
Of distractions we remove,
Or good things we give up,
Not be our focus.
May they instead
Sharpen our gaze
On You.
May 40 Days
Of practices and participating
Ground us in Your work,
In Your Word,
And in Your world.
May 40 Days
Of considering the cross,
Cultivate within us
A healthy discontent for our sin,
And an ardent need
For Your grace.
Other prayers to engage with place…
Father in Heaven,
We pray for warmth this winter.
May Your love ignite the embers of our faith
When the winter presses the bitter cold
Against the doors of our hearts and homes.
Father in Heaven,
In our harried and hurried hearts,
May we attune to the speed of love
And the rhythms of grace to move slowly.
Father in Heaven,
May we move slowly in this Advent season
And in a countercultural cadence
Trust that the One we wait for
Is the One we wait with.
Glory be to God for Dirt—
For backyard soil
as dark and dense
as the midnight sky.
And for all the creatures
who make this ground
their earthy home—
the wiggly ones
and leggy ones
and the tiny ones
our eyes can’t see.
Lord of the garden and the city,
You placed humanity over the work of Your hands
To tend the earth and cultivate life,
To bring order, fruitfulness, and care.
The call to cultivate now echoes in our neighborhoods,
In offices, shops, kitchens, fields, and factories.
Father, Son, and Spirit,
You are a God of mercy and justice,
Full of grace and truth.
We pray today for our first responders,
Women and men who answer the call for help.
When sirens ring, they are the ones who come,
Stepping into uncertainty, chaos, and danger.
Their daily work is too often the most tragic day of someone else’s life.