Things Unsurrendered

A prayer to be led before the contribution...

--------------------------------------------------------

Lord, reveal to us those things of this world that we have not yet surrendered to you, those things that we grip tightly in clenched fists.  Whether it’s our houses, our cars, our technology, our savings, our jobs, our reputations.  Search our hearts, Lord, and reveal to us those things that we rely upon instead of You to bring us our peace, our joy, and our fullness of life.  Show us those things that are unsurrendered, and then gently pry open our clenched fingers, Lord, so that we hold the things of this world in open palms, ready to share them, ready to lend them, ready to give them away at a moment’s notice, ready to write them off without flinching if they are taken from us.

For those things of this world that we grip too tightly, that we refuse to hold in an open palm, we ask that You take them from us, Lord, so that those things will not prevent us from placing our full trust in You and from looking to You alone for full and abundant life.

And for those things of this world that have become so much a part of who we are, so deeply ingrained in our souls that we are completely unable to release them, for those things of this world that are poison to our souls, we ask that You refine them from us with holy fire.  Place our hearts, Lord, in the crucible of grief and trials to burn away all those things in us that are not of You.  Whatever it takes, bring us to our end, until we are desperate for only You.  Purify our hearts, Lord, in the all-consuming fire of Your Spirit until only You remain.

Amen.

Wash Our Eyes to See

A prayer to be led before the passing of the communion bread...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lord, we desire nothing more than a constant awareness of Your presence.  We know in our minds that you are always present, but we’re so easily distracted, and we need Your Spirit to gently remind us...to continually whisper to our hearts that You are present at all times and in all places.  In Your presence we see ourselves for who we really are.  You shine light into the dark places of our hearts and expose the pride and envy, the lust and gluttony and greed that lie hidden there.  

We’ve become so focused on our silly, godless, worldly desires: winning the argument, being admired by people, making ourselves look better than others, being successful, being right, being comfortable, submitting to our urges and appetites, harboring anger against Your children.  But in Your holy presence the emptiness of those desires is so unmistakably clear.  You are all-good.  You are beautiful and satisfying, and Your presence reveals the shallow ugliness of our worldly cravings.

O God, we want You to reveal Yourself to us as we participate in communion together.  Open our eyes and help us to see You living and present.  We hide from You like Adam and Eve in the garden, ashamed of our own sinfulness, afraid to present ourselves before a holy God.  And yet we know in our minds how unconditional Your love for us has always been.  We know how much You desire us and how silly we are to hide, so we offer to You now all those things that divide us from You and that prevent us from seeing You clearly.

We confess to You, Lord, that we have not loved You with our whole heart, that we given a piece of our heart to the things of this world.  We surrender to You now our worldly desires.

We confess to You, Lord, that we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves, that we have often placed our own good above the good of others.  We surrender to You now our selfish pride.

We confess to You, Lord, that we have sinned against you by the things that we have done and by the things we have left undone, that we have placed our own will above Yours.  We surrender now to Your good and perfect will.

We confess that we have once again forgotten Your infinite grace, that we have let the shame and the guilt of our sin come between us, that we have clung tightly to our guilt, thinking that it can somehow save us from Your wrath.  We surrender to You now the shame and guilt of our our sin, that You may once again lay it upon the shoulders of Jesus.  And in the place of that guilt we accept healing grace from Your hand.

To you, Lord, all our hearts are open and all our desires are known and no secrets are hidden.  We come to Your table as we are. Cleanse our hearts, Lord, of any pretense of self-righteousness, but wash our eyes to see ourselves the way You see us: perfect and holy and pure and washed clean by Your grace.

Amen.

A prayer to be led before the passing of the communion wine...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And as You are washing our eyes to see ourselves as You see us, we ask, Lord, that You also wash our eyes to see the church as You see her, as Your radiant bride, beautifully dressed for her husband, shining with the glory of God.  Give us eyes to see past the human institution of the church and to see the reality of the Body of Christ.

You have taught us and You have shown us that Your grace is infinite, but we confess that we haven’t fully understood or we would be able to extend that same grace to all of Your children.  But we want to understand.  When we are tempted to stand in judgement upon Your church or upon Your children, we want instead to be able to pour out infinite grace.

We get so focussed on those silly little things that offend us or bother us somehow, and in the pride of our hearts we say to ourselves that the church and the Kingdom of God, could be so much better if everyone else would just do it our way.  We surrender to You this delusion that the Kingdom of God is ours to rule.

Yours is the Kingdom...
Yours is the Kingdom...
Yours is the Kingdom... and the power and the glory forever and ever.  

Amen.