There are so many places and things designed to help us see, and so much to see in our world. We see a nation divided and people spent with inequality. We see too, small acts of kindness and generosity, the changing of the seasons, and hope in what can be bought and what can be won. And yet, for all that we see, we often miss so much. So, together, let us pray with and for one another a prayer to see the unseen, adapted from John Ballie. Pray with us…
Glory to you, O Lord my King! In love and awe we greet you this day which you have gifted! We give you praise and love and loyalty, O Lord most high!
Help us, Father, not to let our thoughts today be wholly occupied by the world’s passing show. In your loving kindness you have given us the power to lift our minds to contemplate the unseen and eternal; help us not to remain content only with what we see and feel, here and now. Instead grant that each day may do something to strengthen our grasp on the unseen world and our sense of the reality of that world. And so, as the end of our earthly life draws ever nearer, bind our hearts to the holy interests of that unseen world, so that we may not grow to be a part of these fleeting surroundings, but instead grow more and more ready for the life of the world to come.
O Father, you see and know all things. Give us grace, we pray, to know you so well and to see you so clearly that in knowing you we may know ourselves completely as you know us; and in seeing you we may see ourselves as we really are before you. Give us today a clear vision of our lives in time as it appears in your eternity. Show us our own smallness and your infinite greatness. Show us our own sin and your perfect righteousness. Show us our own lack of love and your exceeding love. Yet in your mercy show us also how, small as we are, we can take refuge in your greatness; how, sinful as we are, we may lean upon your righteousness; and how, loveless as we are, we may hide ourselves in your forgiving love. Help us today to keep our thoughts centered on the life and death of Jesus Christ our Lord, so that we may see all things in the light of the redemption which you have granted to us in his name. Amen.