Mark

Like The Colt (Mark 11:1-11)

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Lord, you sent your followers to find a colt that had never been ridden.
Are we like that colt?
Your teachings free us from the ties that bind us to this world.
Your teachings set us apart from others in this world.
We know that our master needs us in this world.

The colt was tied up patiently waiting.
Do we sometimes wait instead of taking action?
Do we wait for someone else to make the first move?
Your teachings have told us what we should be doing.
You taught us with words and with actions.
We know that our master needs us in this world.

The colt had never been ridden until he carried you with pride
into Jerusalem.
From the east, Lord, you rode into Jerusalem
on the back of a young colt, a simple procession.
From the west, Pontius Pilate, the Roman emperor,
rode into Jerusalem as the head
of an impressive procession of soldiers and military power.
Remind us, Lord, that the power and riches of this world
do not compare to your power and to your love.
Your teachings tell us that
the kingdom of God is worth more than the kingdom of man.
We know that our master needs us in this world.

Remind us at this time as we draw nearer to the miracle of Easter,
that it is up to us to carry your word out to the world.
As the colt carried you into Jerusalem,
we are to now carry your love and your message to the rest of the world.
As you shared with us the love of your Father,
help us to love one another.
Your followers celebrated your humble arrival
and ignored the trappings of Pilate.
Help us to see what is truly valuable and keep us from being tempted by earthly treasures.
We know that our master needs us in this world.

The colt went willingly with your disciples.
Help us to see your plan, your will, and to follow you as willingly.
Open our eyes to the needs of those around us.
Open our hearts to the pain of those who need comfort and healing.
Use our talents and skills to act in your place in the world today.
We know that our master needs us in this world, and we know that you are with us always.
We ask that you be with ___ as they need your healing touch and grace.

You taught us with words and with actions.
And you gave us the words that we use today,
“Our Father…”

Teacher, You Came to Us (Mark 5:21-43)

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Teacher, you came to us, as one of us.
You came to where we were and experienced our lives.
Your focus was not on rules, but on relationship, on community.
You sought justice and fairness rather than maintaining the status quo.

We gather here today, as your community, as your followers.
Our lives have changed because we know you.
Change us further with your love and your grace.
Fill us with a desire to seek justice for those around us.
Remind us that we have the ability to make a difference in our world,
by small deeds or large deeds:
A smile, a meal, a letter to our congressman, a donation to the food bank,
standing up for someone who is being bullied, or
protesting against an environmental or economic policy.
This is our world but we need to work to make it your world.

Teacher, you came to us, as one of us.
But you were not one of us.
You were able to heal the sick and raise the dead.
Your acts and your teachings, then, show us the way today,
even when we may stumble and lose our direction.
As we look around this sacred place,
remind us of those in our congregation who are hurting or are in need of healing.
As a community, we know that it is up to us to support one another,
but we ask that you also be with them and grant them your peace and grace.

We gather here today, as your community, as your followers.
Our lives have changed because we know you.
Change us further with your love and your grace.
Help us to realize that our community extends beyond this place.
Our actions impact others within and beyond this place.
As Americans, we use more natural resources than others in this world.
Remind us to take care of this world, our home.
Remind us that your community is the entire human race,
and that we are to work for justice for all your people.

We ask that you teach us, that you change us, that you use us.
We are your children, all of us, regardless of our race or our birthplace.
Open our hearts to your plans, to your desires,
unite us in community, a fellowship of your believers, your followers.
You spoke of faith, and demonstrated love and respect to those around you.
Help us to to live as you did; help us to share love and peace with those around us.
As you taught us, as you modeled your faith, you gave us the words to pray to your Father.
We lift our voices today, using the words you taught us,
“Our Father…”

What We Share (Mark 6:1-13)

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Lord, we recognize that the person we see in the mirror
may not match the vision we have of ourselves
and does not match the vision our friends and families have of us.
The world around us focuses on the image, the perception,
but you taught us what we do and how we act is more important
than our words.

Call us to be the people you want us to be.
Send us out to be your face to the world.
Use our hands to do your work in this world;
use our hearts to share your love in this world;
use our voices to call for your justice in this world;
and, use our faith to help us discern your plans for this world.
We are your disciples in today’s world.
Send us out to be your face to this world.

Lord, we recognize that the person we see in the mirror
may not match the vision we have of ourselves
and does not match the vision our friends and families have of us.
As we look around this sacred place that we return to each week,
do we truly see the people who sit beside us?
Do we know the gifts and talents that you have given to them?
Are we helping each other to nurture and grow those gifts and talents?
Or are we shutting them down and failing to believe in them?
Help us to support and grow one another.

Call us to be the people you want us to be.
Let us start here, within this community,
but help us to move out into the world that surrounds us.
Help us to support one another, and to grow each other into your disciples.
Remind us to have patience with one another.
Remind us that none of us have all the answers and that we learn from one another.
Remind us that we are a community and we need to support each other.
While we focus on those within our midst who need our attention,
we know that you are always with us.
We ask that you be with ___, granting them your healing grace and providing them with your strength.

Lord, we recognize that the person we see in the mirror
may not match the vision we have of ourselves
and does not match the vision our friends and families have of us.
Many of the people that you have called did not feel up to the challenge that you set before them.
Help us to meet the challenges you set before each of us.
Remind us that we are your children, built in your image,
each of us loved and uniquely cherished, and given the gifts needed to meet the plans
you have set before us.

Call us to be the people you want us to be.
We give ourselves to you and offer ourselves to you.
Send us out in the world with only your teachings.
As your disciples, we know and use the words that your Son taught us,
“Our Father….”

Your Healing Touch (Mark 7:24-37)

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God of light and love,
We confess that even when we think we are treating people fairly,
our actions may be tainted by our biases and by our interpretations.
Overwhelmed by the world and desiring privacy,
it can be easy for us to turn a cold eye to the needs of those around us.
It can be easy for us to judge others and blame them for their situation.
Fill our lives with your light, illuminate the shadows of our lives,
and show us what we are not seeing clearly.
Let your light show us the grays in our life,
those spaces where the decisions are not always black and white
and then let your love help us to make the right decision.
As you fill us with your love and light, remind us that we are loved
and heal us as you healed others.
Let the energy of your love fill us with every breath we take.

We gather here in this sacred place.
For the next few minutes, be with us as we sit quietly
and we ask for your healing touch,
for ourselves,
for those that we love, and
for those that we know of but may never meet.
As we breathe in, we feel the energy of your love,
drawn into ourselves,
touching every part of us,
healing what is broken and in pain.
As we breath out, we feel ourselves expanding,
expanding out to unite with one another,
becoming one with each other,
here in this sacred place.

God of light and love,
Open our hearts with your love, help us to share our love and our lives
with people who are not always first in our minds.
Your son showed us this love and compassion when he helped the
Syrophoenican woman, a person some would call an enemy.
As your children, we are loved deeply and uniquely cherished.
Help us to see your face in those that we meet and
help us to extend your gift of healing to others.
We may not be able to cast away their demons,
but we can lend our ears to hear their stories,
we can lend our hands to help pick them up,
and we can use our voices to stand up for them.
Your son came to us in love and
taught us how to truly care for your creation.
And in love, he taught us the words we use today,
“Our Father…”

Are We Acting as Your Followers? (Mark 8:27-38)

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Who do we say that you are?
What brings us here each week?
Where do we see you touching our lives?
When are we most like you?
How do we show that we are your followers?

Do we ever really think about these questions?
Open our eyes, Creator God, to your love and to our answers.
You sent your Son to us, as one of us, but also as part of you.
Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
separate but yet connected.
Sharing your Son with us was sharing your love with us
in the physical form.
Do we see your Son as love? as a teacher? as a prophet?
as a Savior?

We come here every week to this sacred place.
What brings us to this place, to this family of believers?

Open our hearts to your desires.
Help us to work together as your church
to fulfill your plan.
Help us to discern your plan for Church of the Apostles.

As your children, we know you are with us always.
Creator God, you see us as we are and how you would like us to be.
Open our eyes to the times
that you have tried to coax us to follow your teachings more closely.
Open our eyes to the times
that you have supported us in our times of crisis.
As we support each other, we know that you are with us and
we ask that you be with ___ in particular.

We are your children, Lord, and we try to follow your teachings.
As we look at our daily lives, open our eyes to when we are acting in ways
that are most like you.
Use us to fulfill your plan here on earth.
Remind us that we are your followers and it is up to us
to speak for those without a voice,
to listen for the unspoken needs,
to shelter the refugee,
to feed the hungry,
to teach those who cannot read,
and to love the discarded.
As we look at our personal lives, when are we acting most like you?
When are we acting as your disciples, your followers?

Jesus asked his disciples who they thought he was.
Remind us every day who Jesus was and why we follow him.
And as we remember, we use the words he taught us,
“Our Father…”

We Are Connected (Mark 12:38-44)

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Gracious God, we may not want to admit it,
but we are more like the scribe than the widow.
We dress our children in the latest fashions and
upgrade to the newest iPhone.
But we don’t think about the child who may be working
in those factories overseas to give us our latest gadgets
and our athletic wear.
We say we want to protect the environment,
but our constant need for energy depletes the rain forest
and poisons the water.
We put our needs before the needs of others.

Help us to be more aware, Lord.
Help us to see how we are connected with one another,
with nature, and with you, Lord.
Help us to see how our private and our public choices
impact each other, impact our world,
and impact our relationship with you, our Creator.
Help us to remember we affect people we will never know
and will never see.
Help us to put ourselves in someone’s story,
to hear their circumstances without judgment
and to see your image in their face.

Creator God, you created a world that contains all we need.
Remind us that our gifts and treasures are not a reflection of our faith,
but more a reflection on the circumstance of our birth
and our ability to make our way in a material world.
As your disciples shared their gifts and talents with the early church,
so too, are we to share with each other.
Help us to see the inequities of this world
and give us the strength to stand up for justice and peace.
Use us to fulfill your plan here on earth.
Fill our hearts with the desire to follow the examples of your Son, Jesus.

Remind us that being a church does not only mean gathering together
in this sacred place.
Being a church means taking our message out to the world,
in deeds more than in words,
showing others your love and your grace.
Help us to be more like the Widow,
give us the strength to give ourselves freely to each other,
without fear, and without doubt.

We know that you are with us always.
And, we know that faith alone does not guarantee us a pain-free life,
but we know that with your presence, and with the help of each other,
we can be supported and comforted in this world.
We ask for your healing presence for those among us who need it the most.
We name ___

As the widow, we come to this sacred place, and together,
we use the words that your son taught us:
“Our Father…”

Why Is Life Unfair? (Mark 10:46-52)

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As we look at the world around us,
we see much disparity.
Why do some have so much and others so little?
Why are some who practice bad habits, healthy and strong,
while innocent children face illness and pain?
Why does the drunk driver kill someone else other than himself?

Remind us that you are always with us,
but also remind us that our reality is not a litmus test of our faith.
A strong faith does not guarantee us a world full of riches and rainbows,
but our faith will help us get through those dark and lonely nights.
Our faith will help us get through the news that a loved one has cancer,
that a job has been lost, or that our child has made a bad choice.
It is our faith that has brought us to this place, to this community,
to this sacred place.
Our community of believers stand with each other,
supporting one another in times of need,
celebrating our special occasions and individual achievements,
lifting up those who need support,
healing those who are in pain,
and grieving with those who mourn.
That is what you have taught us,
that we are your children,
that we are to be your church.

We follow you, Father, and try to walk in the way of your Son.
He shared your love with us and
we know that we need to share our love with others.
Part of that love is to care for those among us
who have less than they need, for whatever reason.
Open our eyes to the need around us.
Open our ears to the call of those like Bartimaeus who
cry out for assistance.
Open our hearts to your plan, to your desires.
We ask that you use us, that you help us experience your call.
Help us to stand up, to throw off our cloak, and to follow you.

We follow you, Father, and we know that you are with us always.
Your Spirit moves among us, silently urging us in ways we don’t understand
and may never realize.
You are with us, and we ask that you especially be with ___.
Help us to realize that our only privilege in this world is that we are your people.
We are loved by you; we are your children.
While we will always face challenges in our lives, we know that you are always with us.

As Bartimaeus cried out to you, we also cry out to you and we know that we are loved
and that you hear our cries.
As your children, we raise our voices using the words your Son taught us,
“Our Father..”

Happily After (Mark 10:2-16)

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Gracious God, we all long for that happy ever after.
We have ideas about how life should be,
dreams of what could be, and, hopes for what will be.
As children, we learned to crawl and then to walk,
but understood we might fall down and
would need to pick ourselves back up.
As we grow older, picking ourselves up and
dusting ourselves off becomes harder.

Through our lives,
we have learned that it is our relationships that define us.
that strengthen us, that stretch us, and shape us,
our relationship with you and our relationship with others.
It is our relationships that will help us pick ourselves up when we fall.
And it is our relationships, sometimes, that cause us to fall.
Thank you, Teacher God, for the people you have brought into our lives,
friends we have know for years and others who are around only for days or months,
people who taught us love and people who brought conflict to our lives.
We were to know each of them and they were to know us.
Your son taught us the power of relationships,
bringing people together to fulfill your plan.
You are the one constant in our lives. We know that you are with us always.
Be with those among us who need to be comforted and to feel your healing touch,
we name __ in particular and ask that you be with them

Forgiving God, we have all faced the disappointments of life.
We have disappointed others and we have been disappointed.
Our dreams about what could be sometimes fall short.
We have learned the couple on the top of the wedding cake
does not always live happily ever after.

As your church, we come together to support each other, to learn from each other,
and to celebrate the love you have shared with us.
As you have shown forgiveness and understanding to us,
we are to share that love with those around us.
Help us to open our hearts to those around us.
Remind us to focus on developing our relationship with each other,

and our relationship with you, Gracious God.

Remind us to partner with one another, to strengthen the bonds between us.

We have ideas about how life should be,
dreams of what could be, and, hopes for what will be.
Remind us that our reality is up to us.

Together we are your church, and as spouses work together and create a partnership in marriage,

so must we work together to make this world your world here on earth.

As your children, we lift our voices together, using the words that your Son taught us,

“Our Father…”

We Are Loved (Mark 12:28-34)

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We believe that you love us, Creator God.
Help us to really and truly understand that love.
Fill us, from head to toe,
with the overwhelming and awe-inspiring knowledge
of that love.
Open our hearts to the truth of that love.
Tear down the barriers we place between ourselves and you.
As a tidal wave washes everything away in its path,
let us see the waves of your love crash
against the walls we have built with fear,
against the gates we have locked with self-doubt, and
against the obstacles we have created with pain.

Let us see that we are enough.
We are good enough.
We are your children.

Believing does not always mean knowing and understanding.
If we truly knew and understood your love,
how would our lives change?

If we truly knew and understood your love,
would we have less fear in our life?

If we truly knew and understood your love,
would we treat each other differently?

If we truly knew and understood your love,
would we prioritize our time in different ways?

If we truly knew and understood your love,
would we chase different dreams?

You love us completely and unconditionally.
You formed us in your image and yet, as humans, we are flawed.
But you love us anyway.
You love us and we should be dancing in the streets with that news.
But we confess sometimes we barely move,
even here in the pews with our fellow believers.
Fill us, from head to toe,
with the overwhelming and awe-inspiring knowledge of your love.
Open our eyes to ways that we can share that love with others.
Show us how to trigger the excitement of your news within ourselves,
and then with others.
Use us as your hands in this world and
give us the strength to make this world, your world.
As we support one another, we ask that you especially be with __ at this time.

We believe that you love us, Creator God.
We ask that you help us to really and truly understand that love.
As a symbol of your love, you sent to us your Son.
He taught us the words we use today,
Our Father…”
style

Created in God’s Image (Mark 10:35-45)

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We call ourselves your followers, Lord.
We are your children, we call ourselves Christians.
Remind us what that really means.
We were told to love one another as we love ourselves. 

We are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
But who do we consider to be our neighbor?
The person who looks like us, talks like us
     and shares our common experience?
Or is our neighbor a different color?
Does our neighbor make less money than we do?
Does our neighbor speak the same language that we speak?
Does our neighbor have more kids than they can afford to feed?
Did our neighbor drop out of high school?
Has our neighbor escaped a country full of violence
     to find safety in the United States?
Take our judgmental views from our thoughts, Lord.
Help us to see each other as you see us, without bias and in love.
It can be easy for us to look down upon others in an attempt to build up
     our own status and self-importance.

Help us, Father, to treat each other as your children, as our brothers and sisters in Christ.
We do not choose our starting point in life,
     and each of us makes both good and bad choices as we travel
     through life's paths.
Our wealth and comfort in this life is not our right,
     nor is someone else's poverty their penalty for a failed life.
Remind us that none of us are better than another,
     and remind us that we may see each other through biased eyes.
Help us to see your image in the face of those around us.
You created us in your image,
     we are each your children, regardless of what we look like,
     regardless of our talents and skills.
You created us in your image.
We are your children, each of us deeply loved and uniquely cherished.

As we look at others, it is natural for us to classify others, to compare
     ourselves to others.
Remind us when we do that, we will give in to either envy or
     disappointment.
These are not feelings that you want us to experience.
God, you are love, light and grace. That is what you want us to experience,
     to be.
We are unique, created in your image, and each of us possess gifts and
     talents given to us for a purpose.
As your children, we know that you are with us always and we ask that you
     be with __
We know that you have reached out to us in love, and given us your son to
     share your teachings.
For those of us in need of healing, we ask that your Holy Spirit flows
     through us, healing us, strengthening us, making us whole.

As your children, we know that we are equal with one another,
     we know that we were each created in your image and that each of us
     fulfills your particular plan here on earth.
As your children, we celebrate that you gave us your Son to teach us,
     to share your love and grace, and to build a community of believers.
As your followers, we use the words given to us by your Son,
     "Our Father..."