Pastoral Prayer for March 19, 2023

Loving God,

Graciously grant us the spirit of knowledge today.

Fill us with knowledge when the air is thick with ideas,

and we don’t know whom to believe.

Fill us with knowledge when we are plagued with worries.

Help us hand our anxieties over to you,

so there’s room in our minds

for truer, better thoughts and feelings.

Grant us your spirit of knowledge that we may

trust you completely and rest in that trust.

Empower us to put in the necessary study

so as to be able to discern the truly inspired parts of Scripture

from those that are merely human projections

of our own jealousy, anger, and violence onto you.

Fill all those who call on you

with the same spirit of knowledge that led Jesus,

that helped him know what to say, what to think, what to do.

Yes, may your spirit of knowledge

shine out from our innermost beings,

that we may know and share your presence,

your nature, and your will at work in the world around us.

Amen.