Prayer 2.19.23
God of mountain top experiences,
and God of lonely gardens…
God of all we gather today on this last Sunday before Lent,
grateful for a break in the cold weather,
celebrating our city’s football win,
troubled by news that is never good enough for long enough.
God we gather today with a mix of feelings as always.
For this journey of life
vacillates between something like mountain top experiences,
and darkened gardens.
And so we come today perhaps to hear again
how it was that you climbed the mountain -
how it was that you weeped in the garden -
how it is that you journey with us
to all these places you have already been.
So God we ask you this day,
to be close.
Open our awareness
that we might know you are near,
that we might trust
there is nowhere we can go, where you haven’t already been.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers.
God there is nowhere we can go
that you haven’t already been.
But that’s a hard thing to remember
when we’re in our own gethsemenes.
So God we ask that you be particularly close
to those in the midst of their own story
of waking and weeping.
Jesus, you weren’t in that garden alone.
Your own pain was compounded by those you loved
who couldn’t…
who wouldn’t…
stay awake.
And so we pray God,
that we take notice of those who are begging us to stay awake.
For those praying through long nights,
in need of justice that just won’t come.
For those seeking safety -
over borders,
out of abuse,
into stable housing.
For those unable to rest but exhausted -
by a minimum wage that isn’t enough,
by economics that demand too much,
by a system that doesn’t allow their flourishing.
God, for those of us in our own hard nights, be close,
and let us be surrounded by those who know to keep awake.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers.
God there is nowhere we can go
where you haven’t already been.
That is in part, God,
because you never stay in one place too long.
That’s a hard thing to remember
when we’re on our own mountain tops.
For God, when we find ourselves in those moments
where it all seems to come together,
when it is all good and right,
it’s often that we respond like Peter,
we want to build a house, want to stay right there.
But you are a God who keeps moving.
So for those in the midst of their mountain moments,
let us linger as long as we can,
but then call us onward.
Remind us again that these mountain tops are not for us to dwell,
but for our transformation,
that we might be changed,
that we might be your people in new and different ways.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers.
God of good news, and God of hard days,
God of mountain tops and weary gardens,
God of all we pray to you from all the places we find ourselves this day,
with the prayer you taught us to say all together - Our Father…
