28 September 2025 Prayer for the Deacon, Chaplain, Pastor

Pray along with Pr. Laura right HERE

How I’d love to start this prayer with “Here I am, send me” God, and mean it. I mean, I do. Sometimes. But right now, I don’t have to fake it – it’s just you and me. And it helps me to remember that this isn’t a contest or a performance but time with you. And you get it. You get the whole thing. You get why my heart might not be in it in this very moment. And I just get to be that way with you. And then, because of this time you help me remember who you are and that gives me a shot at remembering who I am because of you. I am not my calling, I am not my job. I am yours and you are mine. You are my God. And the authority you give me as a pastor/chaplain/deacon? Well, you give me authority to fail first. To fall to my knees first. And in my failed efforts, and even in the successful ones, whatever that means, I am pointing to you. From my knees. From the midst of the tumult. Up to my eyeballs in water, in trouble. Let my voice speak of your love, your grace, your mercy. Prepare my heart and my voice and my whole being today to encounter your people with love. To not see them as who they pretend to be, but as who you made them to be. Let the pecking order fall away. Let the chasm I’m so good at digging to put space between you and me be filled up. I know, I know, it’s already been filled up but I keep digging. I keep pretending it’s not filled, so maybe wrench the shovel out of my hands. Aw fer dumb! It’s so easy to keep digging. Instead help me reach for you and hold onto you. Take hold of my life.

Help me to love my family well today. It can be so difficult to love the ones we’ve been given to love as family, so keep me in it. The love we share in you is our buoy, our life preserver, our dry land our solid ground. Steep my colleagues and friends in your love. We need more love, God, and you give us more than we can even imagine. Help us to multiply it.

Your mercy is stunning. Thank you. Now help me go and do some of the things and may your Holy Spirit show up and reveal that stunning mercy to me and the people I serve. Amen.

Child of God! Your small acts of love today are mighty. Thank you for doing this work. Don’t lose heart and don’t be afraid -God is with you.