That we may grow in our desire to give ourselves over in love to God and God’s people as we pray for and reflect on the grace to let ourselves be loved.
Gracious and compassionate God,
as your Christian people,
we have been signed with the cross of your Son.
Place us once again near the cross of Jesus
to learn the lessons you long to teach.
Continue to re-form us by the life, death, and rising
of the Master who called us “friends.”
Stir in us the memory and power of his life.
May the gospel we cherish
become the sacred gift out of which
we fashion our lives anew.
We pray for wholeness
for ourselves and for our Church.
Do not allow our fears or resistance
to limit the power of your Spirit.
Bring forth in us the new life
that you see bound up
within our ignorance and pride.
Weep with us and over us again
until we unleash the contagion of your love,
and release those bound
by their own fears or others’ greed.
Make us eager to be among your people
as those who serve in love.
Through, with, and in Jesus, we give you thanks,
O lover of us all and giver of our loving. Amen.
Excerpted from Lenten Longings – Year A: Let Yourself Be…, available from RENEW International