Your Bone & Flesh

BY VALERIE BOYER

A PRAYER FOR BOLDNESS

Inspired by Mark 6:6-13

God,

who was bold enough to speak something into nothing,
who sent fire from heaven as a guide just because you could,
who gave and still gives these outspoken prophets words that you know will sometimes rub us the wrong way,
we need you.

We need boldness that does not fade, so that you can use us like you used your earliest disciples. They healed the sick, raised the dead, and cast out demons. Strangely, we need boldness just to love one another beyond petty generational arguments and to be reconciled back to one another – as you reconciled the world back to yourself through your Son, Jesus. Lord, make us bold, so that you can use us.

Lord, heal us, so that you can use us. Help us to receive healing from you, with thanksgiving, even when we feel we don’t deserve healing. Show us how to walk in happiness and joy, without feeling guilty for either of them. Teach us how to love the unlovable enough to want to contend with the forces of evil for their shalom and for their souls.

We need the kind of boldness that comes from your Holy Spirit. Let it fall fresh upon us every day. Let it meet us in the morning like new mercies. Let it live in us like an all-consuming fire that won’t burn out.

We need you. Send your Spirit, Father. We need your Spirit. We thank you for your Spirit. We love you. We have waited and continue to wait on you. In the name of the Father who was/is bold, the Son who came in boldness, and the Spirit who equips us with boldness, we pray, Amen.

WE’LL DO IT ANYWAY

A Responsive Sending, inspired by Mark 6:7-13

Leader: Lord, what you have asked is not easy to do.
People: With your Spirit, we’ll do it anyway!

Leader: The task is so big and requires the best and the worst of us.
People: With your Spirit, we’ll do it anyway!

Leader: It is not easy to bury the ego, but we must for the sake of your mission.
People: With your Spirit, we’ll bury it anyway!

Leader: When we protest the things that aren’t of you, we’ll be persecuted.
People: With your Spirit, we’ll protest anyway!

Leader: Reconciliation is more than what we’ve bargained for,
and training costs more than what we expected to pay.
People: With your Spirit, we’ll reconcile anyway!

Leader: Loving requires a level of vulnerability that is scary—as scary can be
People: With your Spirit, we’ll love anyway!

All: With the boldness of the Holy Spirit,
we’ll do your work anyway!

Valerie Boyer was born and raised in Galveston, Texas, the home of Juneteenth, curated at Howard University, with journey to Detroit, Michigan, and now Columbus, Ohio. Valerie has embraced life through the lenses of preaching, praying, poetry, and activism, working to make a difference in different pockets of the world, one person at a time.