Sundays after Easter
Prayer
Pastoral Prayers For All Seasons
Object:
Now, dear Lord, that the leaves have fallen to the ground, we've started to grumble. We try to rake them when they are dry and they crumble into little pieces. If we rake them when they are wet they cling to the grass or to our rakes. We've forgotten the shade they provided when they were green, or the artist's palette they became when they were orange, yellow, and red. Now they cause us work so we grumble.
The truth is that this leaf dropping is a necessary part of the tree's life cycle that leads to the budding of its branches next spring. But the trees now are dark, black, and death-like. They look like a pen and ink drawing silhouetted against the sky.
Some of us, our Creator, are in the dark, black phase of our life and we wonder if we are dying. Sadness fills our hours. Pain washes over us. We keep losing a winning perspective on life. So you can see how interested we are in the trees of winter. Anxiously we pull back from memory how trees look in the warm days of spring. We recall seeing a light, misty green color, almost imperceptible, that delicately danced across the outer edges of the branches. We can barely wait until those first full green leaves appear.
We remember, O God; we do remember! We know that the darkness, the blackness, even the death of our spirits isn't the final word or deed. You have chosen to bring us a bright color out of the night and a new life from death. So we reach out to grasp the hope of springtime. It steadies our steps, it invigorates us, and it grants us hope. You are here and you are all we need. In the name of Christ. Amen.
The truth is that this leaf dropping is a necessary part of the tree's life cycle that leads to the budding of its branches next spring. But the trees now are dark, black, and death-like. They look like a pen and ink drawing silhouetted against the sky.
Some of us, our Creator, are in the dark, black phase of our life and we wonder if we are dying. Sadness fills our hours. Pain washes over us. We keep losing a winning perspective on life. So you can see how interested we are in the trees of winter. Anxiously we pull back from memory how trees look in the warm days of spring. We recall seeing a light, misty green color, almost imperceptible, that delicately danced across the outer edges of the branches. We can barely wait until those first full green leaves appear.
We remember, O God; we do remember! We know that the darkness, the blackness, even the death of our spirits isn't the final word or deed. You have chosen to bring us a bright color out of the night and a new life from death. So we reach out to grasp the hope of springtime. It steadies our steps, it invigorates us, and it grants us hope. You are here and you are all we need. In the name of Christ. Amen.
