Prayer for Bread

Dear Lord, we thank you for our daily bread in its many forms. For the physical bread that nourishes our body and the spiritual bread that nourishes our soul. We thank you for the hunger that reminds us of the importance of bread: the physical hunger that prompts us to get our daily supply of food and our spiritual hunger that prompts us to seek you constantly and open our hearts to you. We thank you for you yourself has become bread for us, so that our deepest hunger may be satisfied. We thank you for this wondeful miracle: that in giving, we receive and in sharing, we become richer. 

We ask you Lord this day, as always, to give us our daily bread. We ask you to make us daily bread for others in our family, our church, our community, our world. We ask you, Lord, to be our daily bread, so that we may never be hungry again. In the name of Jesus, the bread of life. 

Amen

Prayer Against Fear

Dear Lord, 

I bring before you today my individual fears - conscious and unconscious, rational and irrational - as well as the fears of an entire human race. I confess that it is often because of this fear in me that I have fallen into sin by doing, saying and thinking what was wrong in your eyes, by being selfish when I could have helped others and trying to avoid suffering at all costs. 

I bring before you fear in its many forms, both in me and in others, purge it and heal the souls that are mutilated by it. I am aware we live in an uncertain world where fear runs out of control and it can lead to all kinds of evil. I pray that you save us from this great emotional plague and strengthen us as you strengthened your people all throughout the ages. 

You know us inside out. You know our deepest secrets and our most hidden motivations and what a great role fear plays in the way we live our life. Release us from its grips, so that we can worship you and serve our neighbour with a pure, undivided heart. Let our need to help others be greater than the need to protect ourselves and our longing for your kingdom greater than our desire for comfort. 

We rely solely on you, for this is something we cannot achieve on our own. But we ask you to do it by the power of your Holy Spirit who works in us and for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ who, all throughout his life and even in death, has trampled fear under foot and showed us a new way to live. 

Amen

Prayer of Thanks

Dear God, 

Thank you for being our Father in this troubled and wounded world, where dreams are so easily crushed and hearts so easily broken. Thank you for the cool drops of grace that refresh us in this arid and lonely desert we are walking through. Thank you that, through Jesus Christ, you are not only our Father in heaven, watching us from a safe distance, but also our friend and companion on the road. We talk to you, we put our hand in yours and suddenly our burden feels so much lighter and everything seems so much easier. You have made our minds large enough to seek you and our hearts large enough to love you, but, above all, you have made yourself small enough to enter our world and change it forever. And change us forever. 

Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you for your words on the cross, when you prayed "Father, forgive them" for those who were crucifying you. These are healing words we can always turn to when we need a breath of fresh air and a new perspective in our lives. By forgiving them -- and us -- you have opened a new way for humanity, making possible that kind of love and forgiveness that seems humanly impossible. Thank you for defying the merciless laws of nature for us. For overcoming gravity by grace and death by eternal life, thus releasing an immense power for the good in our wounded world. And for giving us constant access to this power through the Holy Spirit that dwells and works in us. For all this and much more, we give you thanks and praise and surrender our hearts to you. 

Amen

Prayer for Growth and Transformation

Father God, our words are too small to contain you, our thoughts too small to comprehend you. In the silence of our hearts we contemplate your beauty, acknowledge your power, admire your wisdom and rejoice in your love. You always have new gifts to impart us, new wonders to reveal to us, new joys to fill our hearts with. 

We come before you with open minds and hearts, ready to be transformed, ready to listen and receive the wonderful gifts you have in store for each one of us. Broaden our vision and widen our horizons. Take us to places we've never been before, places from which we can see the world and all creation in a new light. Open our eyes and purify our hearts, so that we can eventually see you, our everlasting treasure, according to the precious promises of your Son Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. 

Amen