Perhaps one of the more subtle difficulties of our current moment is the impact it is having on how we gauge our wealth. We, at least at times, feel deprived, anxious about economics, left out and left behind via the swirl of uncertainties and swell of social media. If you don’t feel this way, know that many of your brothers and sisters, neighbors, and friends do. So, pray with and for them this week with these words adapted from Ernest Campbell.
It is good for us to bless your name, O Father God; to remember your mercies every morning and our loving-kindness every night. The world and this moment in history is so much with us that we gauge our wealth by the wrong things: property owned, money still in and entering our back accounts, securities in our possession, people impressed, and trends we ride. And thus we come short of knowing how rich we really are.
We praise you, Father, for life’s intangibles:
the lift of a loving voice from down the hall, the front yard, or on a screen,
the warmth of a child’s confidence, and a friend’s encouragement,
the strength that comes from an accepted sorrow,
the excitement of a shared purpose.
We praise you for faith that lights our way:
for everything in us that urges us to call you Father;
for all that hints your presence in our fevered world;
and for the gift unspeakable, your only Son, full of grace and truth.
Move us to speak the thanks we feel—to ourselves, our neighbors, and one another—and forgive our much complaining.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.