Week One ABBC

Day 1 Ash Wednesday

Father, Who Art in Heaven…”

Psalm 139:1-12

All those days you felt like dust, like dirt, as if all you had to do was turn your face toward the wind and be scattered to the four corners or swept away by the smallest breath as insubstantial— did you not know what the Holy One can do with dust?

This is the day we freely say we are scorched. This is the hour we are marked by what has made it through the burning. This is the moment we ask for the blessing that lives within the ancient ashes, that makes its home inside the soil of this sacred earth. So let us be marked not for sorrow. And let us be marked not for shame. Let us be marked not for false humility or for thinking we are less than we are but for claiming what God can do within the dust, within the dirt, within the stuff of which the world is made and the stars that blaze in our bones and the galaxies that spiral inside the smudge we bear.

WRITTEN BY JAN RICHARDSON

Day 2 February 23

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.

Amen

WRITTEN BY FRANCIS DRAKE

About This Prayer:

Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596) was an English explorer and privateer.

Day 3

February 24

Father God, you created the world and all that lives on this Earth. You created each of us in your perfect image for your perfect purpose. Your love for us is so great that you sent your only Son… Your Perfect Son, to die for our sins. Jesus died for MY sins so that I can be made righteous in your eyes.

During this season of Lent, please strengthen my resolve to keep in daily prayer with you so that You can show what plans you have for me. Help me to put aside those activities and thoughts that keep me away from your Holy presence. Let me be still and know that You are God. Teach me to humble myself and recognize that all I have comes from You and to give you thanks and praise. Let me show the world that ONLY You are my Lord and my King. Let me confess my sin from my lips to your ears and put repentance in my heart.

For it is through prayer that we find you, through humility that we submit to you and through confession that we find your amazing grace and mercy. It is through Jesus Christ we pray,

WRITTEN BY DOUG HOSEA

Govern everything by your wisdom, O Lord, so that my soul may always be serving you in the way you will and not as I choose. Let me die to myself so that I may serve you; let me live to you who are life itself. Amen

WRITTEN BY TERESA OF AVILA

About This Prayer: St. Teresa of Avila (1515 -1582) was a Spanish nun, mystic, and religious reformer.

“Thy Will Be Done”

We often create a prayer life focused around asking God for our will to be done, but Jesus reminds us that when we move forward in a meaningful prayer life, we are always asking for God’s will to be done in and through us, not our will to be done through God.

In the space below, write or draw your own prayer of response. Make a list of the people to pray for in the coming week.

FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 5

Day 5 February 27

I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you, Praised for you or criticized for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service. And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, you are mine, and I am yours. So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth, Let it also be made in heaven.

Amen

WRITTEN BY JOHN WESLEY

About This Prayer:

John Wesley (1703-1791) was an English clergyman, evangelist, and the founder of the Methodist movement.

Rev. Peter Wehrly and Susan Meister will be leading a Lenten study on John Wesley’s Covenant Prayer, a perfect companion to the Lord’s Prayer. The Covenant Prayer is a radical declaration of love and loyalty to the God whose nature and name is Love. It re-focuses our life upon the One who is Love. It re-orders and re-aligns our life and mission with the life and mission of God. (The study is on the five Wednesdays in March from 5:45-6:45 pm. All are invited. Study materials will be provided.)