Friday, May 7, 2010

What Can I Do?

What can I do to help the people in Greece whose financial markets have collapsed?
What can I do to help the people affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?
What can I do to help to the people in Nashville whose homes are ruined by water?

I can pray...

Almighty God, in whom we live and breathe and have our very being, we join believers around the world to worship you and pledge our desire to follow your son Jesus with our lives. And yet, Lord, we confess our way is cloudy. The voices around us are enticing and at times intoxicating, causing us to forget whose we are and to whom we belong.

In this country there is so much for which we are thankful, freedoms, opportunities and resources which abound. But Lord, we also know, just as the children of Israel discovered, prosperity of a people sometimes displaces You as the object of our worship and allegiance. Lord, re-awake within us the vision to be your people.

In our journey of life, may we continue to listen to our brothers and sisters around the world. May their words encourage and challenge us to be the people you have called us to be. May we be attentive to your kingdom which is larger than our homeland and broader than our borders, contained only by the breadth of your love.

Help us to catch the vision of what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Help us to be the church.In humility, grant us the clarity to see ourselves as you do, called to invest ourselves in the mission You have to love the world through Jesus Christ, your son and our savior. Amen.

adapted from National Day of Prayer (MCUSA)