More than Enough: 2023 Pledge Campaign Prayer and Reflection

Brendan Murphy on October 19, 2022

Begin by setting your heart and mind on God’s presence. Then pray aloud the following prayer.

Holy God who calls the worlds into being, who calls us into Christ’s church;

for the mission of the church that is our heart,

and for the ministry of the church that is our responsibility.

We thank you for the generosity of Christ Church, Ridley Park,

for its people who over time have named your name and lived your life.

for its cooperative witness, balanced life, and its abundant caring ways.

We pray this day for all those in need of good news:

for the powerful who are bewildered,

for all of us who are last and least and lost when there is more than enough.

We pray your mighty Spirit upon us,

that we may more fully live into our Baptism,

and with hopeful devotion offer a sacred promise and pledge,

trusting that you have given us so much more than we could ask.

Make us grateful, make us willing, make us free, that we may become signs of your promise.

We pray in the name of Jesus wholehearted Shepherd of the Church. Amen.

Prayer adapted from ‘Move us beyond ourselves’ by Walter Brueggemann

This “insider world” is not our home. We have our eyes peeled for the City about to come. Let’s take our place outside with Jesus, no longer pouring out the sacrificial blood of animals but pouring out sacrificial praises from our lips to God in Jesus’ name. Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship—a different kind of “sacrifice”—that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets.

Hebrews 13.15b-16 (The Message ‘idiomatic translation’)

enough: (adv) sufficiently, agreeably, gratifyingly, satisfyingly, amply, optimally, plentifully

share: (v) experience, participate, taste, encounter, receive, partake, know, accept

Reflection Questions

Take some time to wonder, and perhaps even free write your responses.

  • Do you have a favorite story of being surprised by having enough? Perhaps it is a tv show or movie or a book. It could also be from your own life.
    • Spend some time considering that story: where is the energy, what made the change? Does it influence you now?
  • Read the lists of synonyms aloud. Are there other words or ideas that connect to enough and share? What are the opposites of those words?
  • What words or phrases leap out at you from the passage above?
    • Is there one of those words or phrases that we live into well?
    • Is there one that could use some more investment of time and talent?
  • Find one of the accounts of the Loaves and Fishes in a Bible or Children’s Bible.
    • Do you notice ways in which it connects to the passage above?
  • Taken together, is there an action the Spirit is leading you to in your stewardship with CCRP in 2023?