Lord we come before you in prayer as we seek to nurture the value of humility in a world where we feel at constant competition. We strive to be the best in our work and our family, in our parenting and grandparenting, in our hobbies and in our health. Help us balance striving to be good with believing we already are. Help us look to you for our comparison instead of our neighbor. You sent us your son as a model of how to be humble but not meek. Through Jesus we find our values that have not changed. Values of love and justice, of peace and joy, of abundance for all. May we be constant to these values. May we be committed to living them out in our lives, even when they don’t match up with the sparkle of the best new thing that lures on the horizon. 

God we pray with broken hearts and tired minds for the violence at the border of Syria. We pray for the lives lost and threatened who are considered collateral damage; never let us label one of your children collatarel anything, for we risk losing our humanity, and our connection with you. We feel helpless to do anything, but as we pray, help us not to move to apathy but to compassion and engagement.  

God we pray for those who are grieving, who are facing colossal disappointment, who are paralyzed by big decisions. Comfort them and walk with them through the storm. Send people into their lives who are willing to walk beside and to carry their burdens until they regain their strength.

Finally God we pray for ourselves, for the worries and disappointments and insecurities we brought with us this morning. We pray that the parable Jesus told so long ago speaks with fresh wisdom into our lives. In Jesus name, Amen.