Easter 36

Lord and God,

Keep watch over us. Set your guardians over our lives and lips, whether they be angels you command or men used for your purposes or even your own Spirit safeguarding us from sin and ruin.

Like the kings of old, we have failed again and again to guard and keep ourselves. We progressed and we regressed again; sin and the high places remain. But you can keep us from the traps of our enemies—the greatest of which is ourselves! Safeguard us like Paul, and raise us with Christ. Let us be struck, wounded as the righteous, rather than live and die in sin. Afford us your everlasting protection as the God of his resurrection.