Building Prayer Card

Building Prayer

We gather

O God, come to our aid! Hasten to hear us as we cry to you. God be our light in time of darkness. Give us voice to proclaim your love.

We listen

Ephesians 2:19 - 22

You are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints and part of God’s household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord; and you too, in him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit.

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

We respond

God, we thank you and praise you for each engaging day, for each restful night. Knowing that you meet us everywhere, we pray…

All: God of surprises, show us your face.
For the grace to see you in all the events of our lives, we pray…
For the grace to see you in all the interruptions of the day, we pray…
For the grace to see you in the suffering faces we meet today, we pray…
For the grace to see you in all the familiar faces that we take for granted each day, we pray…
For the grace to see you in all the heartening happenings of this day, we pray…

We are sent forth…

God of wonders, we praise you because you never stop filling the world with beauty. May our lives reflect your glory to the world. May our gratitude for good times and our trust in troubling times draw others to you. Believing in the power of your name and relying on your Spirit, we ask these graces through Jesus the Christ. Amen.