Sunday, March 1, 2009
Offered by Adam H. Fronczek, Associate Pastor

Have mercy upon us, O God, as you promised you would. We are surrounded with the strife we have created and the threats of destruction that wait around and about us. The treachery of neighbors and nations alike keep us looking over our shoulder, and our own shortcomings, our bad habits, our moral failings cause us to ask if we may trust even ourselves. We live in a wilderness. So we pray to you, O Lord, have mercy upon us, as you promised you would.

In places where relationships are broken, help us to mend them or to let them go. Where injustice has become so normal that we no longer object, where mediocrity has become enough, where sin has so overtaken us that we do not even recognize it, open our eyes. Where serious illness or disability, depression or anxiety have paralyzed us, bring new vigor to our hearts. We pray for the wilderness places in which we find ourselves and our loved ones, for those who are jobless, lonely, scared, or tired. Help us to struggle or to accept, to stand firm or to wait patiently—and help us to know which one is right and when.

We know you can do these things, O Lord, for you are the one who brings order out of chaos and life where there was none. You spoke to Moses in the wilderness and gave him power. When Jesus was driven into the wilderness, angels waited upon him. You have returned your prodigal children to lives of obedience, and you have called us to justice and righteousness time and again, even when we have seemed a lost cause. In the fullness of time, you came to us yourself, in the person of Jesus, to defend those who have no other protector, to heal the sick and bind up the brokenhearted, to call the able, the willing, and even the unwilling, and to walk with us all, even through the valley of the shadow of death. We know you can do these things, O God. There is a bright side to this wilderness, for we are the beloved sons and daughters of God.

So make us believe, O God. Make us believe that even as you did those mighty acts in history, you will do it again. From the broken pieces of our lives, may we recommit ourselves to running the race each day, asking for more justice, more peace, more forgiveness than we had before. You have gone before us, Lord, carrying light into places of darkness. Make us bold again to follow you. Amen.

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church