Holy God,
who calls the worlds into being,
who calls us into Christ's church,
we thank you for the mission of the church
that gives life to all the world,
for the ministry of the church
to which every Christian is called.
We thank you for pastors and people
who seek to serve you faithfully
in the midst of despair and destruction,
in a world of chaos and confusion.
We confess, O God,
that sometimes we forget
that You have created us,
so we wander away
from your Son's teachings and example.
Thus we abuse your creation,
the sustaining gift You have given to us.
Recover in us a sense of awe and responsibility.
We live by teachings, hopes and dreams
that are rooted in Scriptural holiness.
Yet we confess that we condone torture
against those we perceive to be our enemies.
We hide our eyes from the deaths of those we deem to be foreigners,
and we think peace is an unattainable ideal.
Reconcile in us what we expect with what we do.
We thank you for the ministry
of the United Methodist Church,
for our heritage of justice and peace,
our concern for the homeless,
the helpless and the harassed.
Our mother, the Church,
has nourished us, taught us,
reprimanded us and sent us
into the world to serve faithfully.
We pray, dear God,
for the survivors of tsunamis in Southeast Asia,
the hurricanes in the U.S. Gulf Coast,
the mud slides in Central America
and the earthquakes in Pakistan.
Empower us to help restore them to well being.
We confess, O God,
how self-satisfied we so easily become.
Our comfort and contentment
often prevent us from showing mercy.
Forgive our neglect and strengthen us to serve.
As we pray so easily and so often
that You will forgive us as we forgive others,
help us to recognize our sins,
our shortcomings and our self-righteousness.
Bring us from arrogance to empathy,
from indifference to enthusiasm,
from fear to faithfulness.
One more thing:
Do not let us utter words of agreement
too easily, too quickly.
Focus our eyes as well as our hearts
on what you desire for us.
Challenge us to move
from complacency to commitment,
from cliches to compassion
and from old habits to new opportunities.
We pray all this through the Spirit
of Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord.
-- Jim Winkler, January 2006
A Prayer for the New Year
Word from Winkler
UMC Global Board of Church and Society website
January 11, 2006
http://www.umc-gbcs.org/site/apps/nl/content.asp?c=fsJNK0PKJrH&b=1335251&content_id={34EF5F85-4B1A-4A8E-AE7D-9226065CCBD9}¬oc=1&tr=y&auid=1327524
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Last Modified: January 2006