{"id":651,"date":"2026-08-21T01:39:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T23:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/irenebom.com\/make_and_do\/?p=651"},"modified":"2026-08-21T23:47:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T21:47:40","slug":"prayers-poems-for-lent-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irenebom.com\/make_and_do\/prayers-poems-for-lent-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Prayers poems for Lent 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

BACKSTORY<\/strong>
\nFor Lent 2026 I invited people from my Presbytery to join me in writing a prayer poem a week based on the psalms listed in the lectionary for Sunday worship. Six psalms in total. Three people joined me, two from Switzerland and one from Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n

Each Monday I sent out an email with some introductory material to help guide our reflections. Over the course of the week we wrote our prayer poems and shared them with each other. It’s so interesting how each one approached the challenge in their own unique way, and how we influenced and inspired each other.<\/p>\n

 
\nHere are the six prayer poems I wrote. I’m particularly proud of the one I wrote in Week 3.<\/p>\n\n

LENT 1A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tormented\u00a0and empty\u00a0are wicked\u00a0and destructive\u00a0people,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0but the one who trusts in the Eternal is wrapped tightly in His gracious love. <\/em>
\n(Psalm 32:10<\/a>, The Voice)<\/p>\n

 
\nCovenant-keeper,
\nbanner of love over your fickle people,
\nlife without you is torment<\/p>\n

I choose to simply surrender,
\nto commit myself to acts of trust
\nin your gracious love<\/p>\n

Like a baby,
\nwashed clean and wrapped
\nin swaddling bands and laid
\nin a place of safety<\/p>\n

Like a corpse,
\nwashed clean and wrapped
\nin white linen, spiced
\nto honour a life<\/p>\n

Like a wound,
\nwashed clean and wrapped
\nup tightly, but not too tightly,
\nso healing can begin<\/p>\n

Sing, Lord, I\u2019m listening.
\nFill the space and sing
\nme to life<\/p>\n\n

Lent 2A<\/strong><\/p>\n

The LORD shall preserve you from all evil. He shall keep your soul.<\/em>
\n(Psalm 121:7<\/a>, Revised Geneva Translation)<\/p>\n

 
\nAs I come and as I go
\npreserve me from all evil,
\nKeeper of my soul.<\/p>\n

At the door of my heart
\nkeep watch for evil on every side.
\nPurify my desires too
\nso I\u2019m wholly invested in
\nyour ministry of defence.<\/p>\n

At the gate to my garden
\nkeep watch for evil of any kind.
\nKeep out and weed out what\u2019s wicked.
\nPursue in and through me
\nyour ministry of flourishing and fruit.<\/p>\n

At the borders of my being
\nkeep watch for evil by degrees.
\nDrive back those who wish to rob me of peace.
\nRefresh my soul through
\nyour ministry of rest.<\/p>\n

As I come and as I go
\npreserve me from all evil,
\nKeeper of my soul.<\/p>\n\n

Lent 3A<\/strong><\/p>\n

For forty years I loathed that generation
\n    and said, \u2018They are a people whose hearts go astray,
\n    and they do not regard my ways.\u2019<\/em>
\n(Psalm 95:10<\/a>, NRSV)<\/p>\n

 
\nO God of your people,
\nShepherd of your flock,
\nof that first-taste-of-freedom generation, sadly
\nonly a few knew to trust you.
\nThe rest tested and distressed you.
\nThey could not stomach your ways.<\/p>\n

Caleb and Joshua \u2013 bless them \u2013 they kept the faith.<\/p>\n

They spied the promise
\nand embraced it with hope.
\nThey lamented their quarrelsome contemporaries
\nand held space for grace.
\nForty years of detours
\ndid not dim their confidence
\nin you and your dream.<\/p>\n

O God of your people,
\nShepherd of your flock,
\nmay I side with the Calebs and Joshuas
\nof my generation \u2013 bless them.
\nI want to belong to their tribe.<\/p>\n\n

Lent 4A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Certainly, goodness and mercy will stay close to me all the days of my life,
\n    and I will remain in\u00a0Yahweh\u2019s\u00a0house for days without end.<\/em>
\n(Psalm 23:6<\/a>, Names of God translation)<\/p>\n

 
\nWhen I\u2019m close to you, Good Shepherd,
\n\u2018Goodness\u2019 and \u2018Mercy\u2019 stay close to me,
\ncompanions for life.<\/p>\n

Like two sheepdogs
\nnudging me on
\nthrough tough terrain.<\/p>\n

Like guardian angels
\nwhispering wisdom,
\n\u2018this is the way, walk in it\u2019.<\/p>\n

When I\u2019m close to you, Good Shepherd,
\n\u2018Goodness\u2019 and \u2018Mercy\u2019\u00a0stay close to me,
\ngood company all the way home.<\/p>\n\n

Lent 5A<\/strong><\/p>\n

I pray to GOD \u2013 my life a prayer \u2013
\nand wait for what he\u2019ll say and do.<\/em>
\n(Psalm 130:5<\/a>, The Message translation)<\/p>\n

 
\nMy life a prayer \u2026
\nif only!
\nMy life a prayer \u2026
\nI don\u2019t know.
\nMy life a prayer \u2026
\nreally?
\nMy life a prayer \u2026
\nplease, Lord,
\nmake it so.<\/p>\n\n

Lent 6A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lord, save us!
\n    Lord, grant us success! <\/em>
\n(Psalm 118:25<\/a>, NIV)
\n <\/p>\n

God of the faithful ones,
\nyou made this day,
\nworking it like a potter
\ninto a container shaped
\nfor promise and rejoicing,
\nthen gave it to us as a gift.
\nFill it with saving grace.
\nFill it with your favour.<\/p>\n

The time is right!
\nSave us!
\nGrant us success!
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BACKSTORY For Lent 2026 I invited people from my Presbytery to join me in writing a prayer poem a week based on the psalms listed in the lectionary for Sunday worship. Six psalms in total. Three people joined me, two from Switzerland and one from Sri Lanka. Each Monday I sent out an email with … Continue reading “Prayers poems for Lent 2026”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20,8,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","category-psalms","category-writing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPrayers poems for Lent 2026 - MAKE and DO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/irenebom.com\/make_and_do\/prayers-poems-for-lent-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prayers poems for Lent 2026 - MAKE and DO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BACKSTORY For Lent 2026 I invited people from my Presbytery to join me in writing a prayer poem a week based on the psalms listed in the lectionary for Sunday worship. 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Six psalms in total. Three people joined me, two from Switzerland and one from Sri Lanka. Each Monday I sent out an email with…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenebom.com\/make_and_do\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenebom.com\/make_and_do\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenebom.com\/make_and_do\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenebom.com\/make_and_do\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenebom.com\/make_and_do\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/irenebom.com\/make_and_do\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":672,"href":"https:\/\/irenebom.com\/make_and_do\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651\/revisions\/672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenebom.com\/make_and_do\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenebom.com\/make_and_do\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenebom.com\/make_and_do\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}