A Prayer for a Preaching Day.

Lord, this is messy business, this thing called preaching.

There’s weight because this is Your very Word. There is heaviness because they are very Your people. And there is hope because here is very Your Spirit.

Yes, Your Word, Your people, Your Spirit meet; a potent assembly.

I’d like to say we’re familiar with Your Word, and still so often it startles me. I’d like to say I'm comfortable being Your people, and yet I know little of what that means and more than not, I disbelieve my name. I’d like to say I welcome Your Spirit’s presence, and yet You often call me to daring, unnamed places.

So would You speak with me now? Converse with me concerning Your vast narrative and grant me the courage to be a teachable character.

I pray in the name of the One who is the beginning and the end of the grander narrative, even Jesus.

Amen.