Palm/Passion Sunday Prayer

by Claire McKeever-Burgett

God, today, we wave our palm branches, cry for help, and lay the
green leaves on the dusty ground
in hopes that our prayers will reach your ears.

Save us, God, from our greed, our arrogance, our selfishness.
From our ignorance, our apathy, our complicity.
Save us, God, from sickness and abuse. From people who
would have us be someone other than ourselves.

Following Jesus is hard, God. It means we must sacrifice and
yield; sit still and explore; forgive and love.
So we ask you, and we ask each other for help, for
companionship, for love.

Will you enliven us to help each other? To share the bread and
the cup not only with our loved ones but with our enemies, too?
Only time will tell, Holy God, if we will be your hands and
feet this Holy Week.

Palm branches wave across the sky.
Hear us, God! Save us, God! Help us, God!

We hear you say: I am here, child.
Silence falls like rain. We save our voices because we trust
you know our hearts.

[Silence.]

Amen.

Permission is granted for use in corporate setting. Copyright © 2014 The Upper Room. 

Claire McKeever-Burgett serves on the staff of The Upper Room in Nashville, TN. An ordained Alliance of Baptist pastor, she writes often at pastorpoet.com.