Grave cloths that bind me

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Resurrection of Lazarus by Henry Ossawa Tanner via Wikimedia Commons
 
Our Father in heaven, I thank you that you have led me into the light.
I thank you for sending the Savior to call me from death to life.
I confess that I was dead in sin before I heard his call,
    but when I heard him, like Lazarus, I arose.
But, O my Father, the old grave cloths bind me still.
Old habits that I cannot throw off,
    old customs that are so much part of my life
    that I am helpless to live the new life that Christ calls me to live.
Give me strength, O Father, to break the bonds;
    give me courage to live a new life in you;
    give me faith to believe that with your help I cannot fail.
And this I ask in the name of the Savior
    who has taught me to come to you.

prayer from Taiwan
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John 11:38-44 

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. 
It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 
    “Take away the stone,” he said.
    “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, 
    “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”  
Then Jesus said, 
    “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

So they took away the stone. 
Then Jesus looked up and said, 
“Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, 
    but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, 
    that they may believe that you sent me.”

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, 
    “Lazarus, come out!”  
The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, 
    and a cloth around his face.  
Jesus said to them, 
    “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

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Questions

What experiences from your past still bind you 
    and prevent you from following God as you know you should?

Wash me with your tears

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Jesus Weeps by Linda Richardson
 
Lord, we show you our wounds so that you may heal us.
And even if we do not, you know,
    and you wait to hear our voice.
Do away our scars by tears,
    like the woman in the gospel who washed your feet with hers.
 
You know how to help the weak,
    when there is no one who can prepare the feast,
    or bring the ointment,
    or carry along a spring of living water.
You come yourself to the grave.
 
So come to this grave of mine, Lord Jesus,
    that you would wash me with your tears.
With my dry eyes I have no such tears
    as to be able to wash away my offenses.
With your tears I will be saved, if I am worthy of your tears.
 
With them you will call me out of the tomb of this body and say,
    “Come forth.”
Then my thoughts will not be kept pent up
    in the narrow limits of this body,
    but may go forth to you, and move to the light,
    that I may think no more on the works of darkness,
    but on the works of light.
 
Ambrose of Milan, c.339-397, Bishop of Milan
Fount of Heaven Prayers of the Early Church

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John 11:33-36, 43-44 
 
When Jesus saw her weeping,
    and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping,
    he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
“Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
Jesus wept.
Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
 
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice,
    “Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out,
    his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen,
    and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them,
    “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

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Question

What wounds do you have that need the tears of Jesus?

obeying the call to follow

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Down the mountain, Mike Moyes

 
Lord, you see my sins more clearly
than I can myself;
you know when I am untruthful
and when I think evil of others.
You see my anger
and unfairness to my friends.
You know how hard it is for me to forgive.

Lord, you know
when I am indifferent
to your Word, the Bible;
how often I forget
to pray;
the times I come unwillingly
to worship;
and yet I turn to you,
when I am in trouble.

Lord, I have sinned,
without considering how much
you love me.

Forgive me and make me clean,
so that I can obey your call
to take up your cross
and follow you.

Maureen Edwards, missionary to Kenya
Prayers Encircling the World

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John 11:14-16

Then Jesus told them plainly,
“Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there,
so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples,
“Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

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Question

When have you followed God’s call for your life, 
    even when you didn’t want to completely?

blessings of a home

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Motif from a small northern French town, Jules Achille Noël via wikimedia commons
 
O God, bless those who have no homes.
Bless those who have to live away from home
  in lodgings and boarding-houses and hotels.
Bless those who have been left alone,
  and who are solitary now.
Bless those who are searching or waiting for a house.
Specially bless young couples who have to live in furnished rooms,
  or with relatives, and who have never had the chance
  to be alone together and to have a home of their own.
Bless those who keep house for other people,
  and who have no house of their own.
Bless old people who are coming to the end in some institution
  which is very comfortable but which is still not home.
Help us who have the blessing of a good home
  to keep an open heart and an open door
  to those less fortunate than ourselves.
This we ask for your love’s sake. Amen.

from the Audenshaw prayers, UK
A Procession of Prayers

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1 Peter 4:8-10
 
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.  
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others,
as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

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Question

What are some ways you can show hospitality 
    to someone less fortunate than you are?

Make us channels of healing and comfort

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The Potato Eaters, Van Gogh, 1885
 
God of life
God of justice
God of love and mercy
 
God the provider
God our refuge and sustainer
God our comforter
 
Hear the plight of those living in squalid conditions
We present the vulnerabilities of the widows,
orphans, sick, the aged, and unemployed
We present their needs before you
We appeal to you to meet them at their point of need
 
Give them hope and faith in you
Give them courage to soldier on
Give them resilience and tenacity
 
We pray that while the powers that
have tended to ignore their plight
you will be the eyes and ears that see and listen
to their heartfelt needs
 
We pray that you make us the instrument
and the channel of healing and source of comfort;
We appear to you to make us relevant and effective
to those in need.
Amen.
 
complied by Claudio Carvalhaes, professor of worship in New York City
Liturgies from Below: Praying with People at the End of the World
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Psalm 82:1-4 
 
God has taken his place in the divine council;
    in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
“How long will you judge unjustly
    and show partiality to the wicked?
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
    maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
    deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
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Question

What is one action you can take
   that could become a channel of blessing for a person in need?

Disturb us, O Lord

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image via Pinterest​
 
Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

The Minister’s Manual, Vol. 37, compiled by M.K.W. Heicher

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Ephesians 3:20-21

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
    according to his power that is at work within us, 
    to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus 
    throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

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Question

When have you felt moved or disturbed to undertake a challenge 
   so big that only God could accomplish it?

As we learn repentance

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image via Pickpic
 
​Lord Christ, grant to us your servants

    the blessing of learning the discipline of repentance.
And as we learn repentance,
    it is also good for us to learn to avoid sin –
    so we will have no need to repent.
 
Those who have escaped a shipwreck
    generally tend to avoid ships and the sea in the future.
By keeping fresh the memory of disaster,
    they honor the second chance you gave them.
They honor their deliverance,
    and are not willing to tempt your mercy all over again.
 
We have escaped once.
Now let us allow ourselves to experience sin’s danger that far only –
    and no farther!
Even if it seems that chances are good for us to escape a second time.
 
Tertullian, c. 155 AD – c. 220, Theologian from Carthage, North Africa
Fount of Heaven: Prayers of the Early Church

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2 Corinthians 7:8-10 
 
I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first,
    for I know it was painful to you for a little while.
Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you,
    but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways.
It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have,
    so you were not harmed by us in any way.
For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin
    and results in salvation.
There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow.
But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

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Questions

When has God given you 2nd, 3rd, and 4th chances?  

What have you learned about the process of repentance?

slow me down, Lord

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Sequoia trees via Pickpic
 
 
Give me, amid the confusion of the day,
    the calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tensions
    of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music
    of the singing streams that live in my memory.
Help me to know the magical,
    restoring power of sleep.
Teach me the art of taking minute vacations-
    of slowing down to look at a flower,
    to chat with a friend, to pat a dog,
    to read a few lines from a good book.
Remind me each day
    of the fable of the hare and the tortoise,
    that I may know
    that the race is not always to the swift-
    there is more to life than increasing speed.
Let me look upward
    into the branches of the towering oak and know
    that it grew slowly and well.
Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to send
    my roots deep in the soil of life’s enduring values
    that I may grow towards the stars
    of my greater destiny.

Richard Cushing, 1895 – 1970, American Catholic Archbishop
The Westminster Collection of Christian Prayers

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Psalm 121:1-8

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
    From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
    nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore.

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Question

What is an area of your life where you need to slow down, 
    or at least take some minute breaks?
What steps can you take to slow down and trust God 
    to accomplish his purposes in your life?
​

remembering the poor

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Feeding the poor, Rudolf Hirth du Frênes via Wikimedia Commons
 
 
​O God, when I have food,

   help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work,
   help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a home,
   help me to remember those who have no home at all;
When I am without pain,
   help me to remember those who suffer,
And remembering,
   help me to destroy my complacency;
   bestir my compassion,
   and be concerned enough to help;
By word and deed,
   those who cry out for what we take for granted.
Amen.

Samuel F. Pugh, 1904 – 2007, Disciples of Christ minister, United States

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2 Corinthians 9:8

And God is able to make all grace abound to you,
   so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times,
   you may abound in every good work.

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Questions


What organization can you support that will allow you 
    to remember the needs of others in a tangible way?
How and when can you offer your support?
 

Give them today their daily bread

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Miracle of the Bread and Fish, Giovanni Lanfranco via Wikimedia Commons
 
Lord, when we say ‘Give us today our daily bread,’
  may we remember our brothers and sisters
  who live below the poverty line
  and pray, ‘Give them today their daily bread.’
Give us the wisdom and courage to challenge the policies and structures
  which make the poor even poorer,
  while we have more than enough.
Grant us such deep compassion that we will not rest
  while surplus food rots in one part of the world,
  and families starve in another;
for your love’s sake.

Sister Margaret Magdalen CSMV,  Anglican nun in England and southern Africa
The Book of a Thousand Prayers

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James 2:15-17  

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,
and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,”
without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
 
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Question

How can you remember to pray more regularly for the poor 
    in your town, your region and the world?