Praying In The Work

Colossians 3:1-25, as we discussed on Sunday, is an exhortation to live an after-Easter life in our work, the daily labors of living with God and others. Read Colossians 3, and then let this prayer adapted from Tom Nelson, be our prayer in the work of living today and in the week ahead.

Heavenly Father, in your divine and gracious providence you have presently placed us in our workplaces, in our homes, relationships, and offices. It is our hearts’ desire that we glorify you in and through our work today. May we do our work well, from our souls. And may our minds be renewed and our hearts singularly focused as we meditate on the truths and Truth of your words and the Word. Draw us near to you. Lord Jesus, let our places of labor be places of discipleship where we learn from you as we work with you. As we walk in the power and counsel of the Holy Spirit, may the character of Christ be increasingly evident in our lives, as our love holds everything in harmony. Father, use our lives and our work of living to further your redemptive purposes in the world and to enhance the good and very good of all of your creation. Wholly submitted to Jesus we pray, Amen.

On Last Time

Creation’s cadence is simple enough: Sabbath into work…work into Sabbath…and back again. Yet the beat of our divined whole and holy rhythm of ordinary life is not so easy to keep amid the cacophony of rhymes and siren’s song that seem to never cease. So, one last time, lets pray the rhythm into our hearts.

This week, as we pray again an adaption of Ruth Ann Schuringa’s prayer, let the exhortation of Hebrews 4 be invitation to be united in faith in our prayer and practice of whole and holy living.

Therefore, while the promise of entering God’s rest still stands, let us fear lest any of us should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to those first set free into new life, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they it did not meet with faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter God’s rest… (Hebrews 4:1-3)

Father, when is enough, enough?

When can we rest in knowing we have done enough?

Ever?

The endless striving and busyness are never done!

Good Shepherd, teach us how to rest.

Jesus, we need a different way forward.

We long for gentle rest, for sabbath,

for your presence of peace.

Abba Father, teach us to slow down.

Forgive us our pride,

our certainty that more is better,

our insistence that we are indispensable,

our striving for that which does not ultimately satisfy.

Good Shepherd, teach us how to rest.

Father, help us live into the gift of your beautiful, never-ending grace.

Holy Spirit, help us see that in you we are enough,

formed and fashioned in your good design for your good destiny.

Wonderful are your works; may our souls know it very well!

May our work be a beautiful, generous offering of love to you, Jesus.

May it spill over to the people and the world you made.

May we flourish in our work, because we are always resting in you.

Good Shepherd, teach us how to rest. Amen.

A Couple More Turns

Creation’s cadence is simple enough: Sabbath into work…work into Sabbath…and back again. Yet the beat of our divined whole and holy rhythm of ordinary life is not so easy to keep amid the cacophony of rhymes and siren’s song that seem to never cease. So, perhaps we need a couple more turns praying the rhythm into our hearts.

This week, we pray together again an adaption of Ruth Ann Schuringa’s prayer for our hearts to beat in sync with the Creator’s.

Father, when is enough, enough?

When can we rest in knowing we have done enough?

Ever?

The endless striving and busyness are never done!

Good Shepherd, teach us how to rest.

Jesus, we need a different way forward.

We long for gentle rest, for sabbath,

for your presence of peace.

Abba Father, teach us to slow down.

Forgive us our pride,

our certainty that more is better,

our insistence that we are indispensable,

our striving for that which does not ultimately satisfy.

Good Shepherd, teach us how to rest.

Father, help us live into the gift of your beautiful, never-ending grace.

Holy Spirit, help us see that in you we are enough,

formed and fashioned in your good design for your good destiny.

Wonderful are your works; may our souls know it very well!

May our work be a beautiful, generous offering of love to you, Jesus.

May it spill over to the people and the world you made.

May we flourish in our work, because we are always resting in you.

Good Shepherd, teach us how to rest Amen.

Rest & Work

Entering into a rhythm where we move from rest to work to rest to work and back again, is no necessarily as easy as it reads. Throughout our faith history, and even still today, those who long to live whole and holy lives have written and prayed for our hearts and hands to match the beat of our Creator’s rhymes.

This week, we pray together this prayer written by Ruth Ann Schuringa,

God, when is enough, enough?

When can we rest in knowing we have done enough?

Ever?

The endless striving and busyness are never done!

Good Shepherd, teach us how to rest.

God, we need a different way forward.

We long for gentle rest, for sabbath,

for your presence of peace.

Abba Father, teach us to slow down.

Forgive us our pride,

our certainty that more is better,

our insistence that we are indispensable,

our striving for that which does not ultimately satisfy.

Good Shepherd, teach us how to rest.

God, help us live into the gift of your beautiful, never-ending grace.

God, help us see that in you we are enough,

just as we are.

May our work be a beautiful, generous offering of love to you, God.

May it spill over to the people and the world you made.

May we flourish in our work, because we are always resting in you.

Good Shepherd, teach us how to rest Amen.

A Work Place Prayer

Resting with God in His finished work allows us (sanctifies us) to enter into our good work with Him. So today, and in the next week of work days, take a moment to pray the “Prayers for a Workplace” adapted from Common Prayer: a liturgy of ordinary radicals. Whether your place of work be in an office building, a coffee shop, your kitchen table, and whether your work be for pay or for joyful duty, may the pasture to which your led to labor, be a place of peace.

Sitting down at your desk or standing in your laundry room, pray:

May God give a blessing to this place.

God bless it form roof to floor,

from wall to wall, from end to end,

from its foundation and in its covering.

In the strong name of the triune God:

all evil be banished,

all distrubance cease,

captive spirits freed.

God’s Spirit alone

dwell within these walls.

We call upon Father, Son & Spirit

to save, shield, and surround

this house, this building, this place of garden cultivating

this day, this night, and every night.

Peace be here in the name of the King of life;

the peace of Jesus above all peace,

the LORD’s blessing over all.

May God the Father

be guardian of this place

and bring His peace.

May God’s love be shared here,

may God’s will be found here,

and my there be peace between all people who work/live here.

Christ, in our coming

and in our leaving, be the Door and the Keeper

of us

and for all who work/live within this place,

this day and every day,

forever and always.

Amen.

A Sabbath Prayer

Waking up in a post-Easter morning, is waking up in a world where “It is finished.” The “It” being the work of overcoming all those adversaries of our souls (Psalm 143:12). A work completed once and for all that marks the end of all that takes life actually being our end. A work that allows us to rest in the words that come after the completed work “Peace be with you” (Jn. 20:19,21,26).

So, this morning, as well as the next several mornings at least, let us pray together a prayer to rest in God’s work. Will you join me in a Sabbath Prayer adapted from, Common Prayer: a liturgy for ordinary radicals .

Lord of Creation,

create in us a new rhythm of life

composed of hours that sustain rather than stress,

of days that deliver rather than destroy,

of time that tickles rather than tackles.

Lord of Liberation,

by the rhythm of your truth, set us free

from the bondage and baggage that break us,

from the Pharahos and fellows who fail us,

from the plans and pursuits that prey upon us.

Lord of Resurrection,

may we be raised into the rhythm of your new life,

dead to deceitful calendars,

dead to fleeting friend requests,

dead to the empty peace of accomplishments.

To our packed-full planners, we bid, ‘Peace!’

To our over-caffeinated consciences, we say, ‘Cease!’

To our suffocating selves, Lord, great release.

The righteous flourish…planted in the house of the LORD

By your ever-restful grace,

allow us to enter your Sabbath rest

as your Sabbath rest enters into us.

In the name of our Creator, our Liberator,

our Resurrection and Life, we pray.

Amen

A Springtime Prayer

As we noted some forty or so days ago, the Latin word lent means “length” and is a term used to denote the arrival of the Spring season. A season in which the world is filled with newness, from buds to berries, blossoms to babies, the greening of grass to the lengthening of sunlight’s gaze on each days life; in Spring, the whole world seems reborn!

It’s fitting then, that as we approach the sure scheduled destination of our Lenten journey, that we take a moment to reflect on the fact that Easter marks the beginning of our “Christian calendar.” Each Easter we reminder the rebirth of life with God through Jesus, and that post-Easter morning, we live in a world bursting with newness. That means each morning waking in the place the apostle Paul dubbed, “the new country of grace” (Rom. 6:2).

Though today marks a day of darkness, what makes it “Good Friday,” is the possibility of all the life after death that it brings, and continues to bring anew into our world each and every day. So let’s join together in a Springtime Prayer.

Wonderful Savior, please help us to use this newly revived springtime season to revive a newness in our hearts, a freshness of your Spirit in our homes and in our lives. Help us to respond to life with mercy, meekness, consideration and love; as Jesus did.

As we live day by day, remind us of the beauty of spring, and what new beginnings mean within us and in the lives of those around us. Place those in our path that need help to see and experience the springing of your life in them. Present us with situations where we can support one another, teach us to pray with prophetic, transformative empathy on behalf of friend, family and enemy. And give us the wisdom and the hope to live with courage coupled with compassion.

Because Jesus lives, and we live with him. Amen.

Strengthening His Grip

Last week we entered “the” Lenten prayer of the Orthodox Church, reflecting on the ‘negative’ side of repentance. Praying specifically for a weakened grip upon those characteristics that keep us from the life God has (re) created for us in Jesus.

Here at the edge of the homestretch of our pilgrimage, we will use this short petition to help us keep our aim in focus once more. But today, we’ll focus on the positive, on those characteristics which mark new life. Pray this prayer four times. Focus on one of the emboldened words each time you pray. Let yourself long deeply for the life God has freed you form death to live, and the character to experience it in full. To help, I’ve provided a brief descriptor of the ’positive’ words below. Read them over, see in them what you desire to hold to, to be a part of your life in the light, and then let the Spirit strengthen His grip on our lives.

chastity | the word is better translated for our modern times as ‘whole-mindedness.’ If the spirit of sloth has distorted our vision and energy to see life as it truly is in God, then whole-mindedness is the ability to see Him and life in him clearly.

humility | “the victory of truth in us, the elimination of all lies in which we usually live…accepting things as they are…God’s majesty and goodness and love in everything”

patience | the opposite of evaluating everything in terms of “me”; my needs, my ideas, my desires, my judgments; because we are open to God and able to see our life in His life and Kingdom.

love | “the gift which is the goal of all spiritual preparation and practice”

O Lord and Master of my life!

Take from me the spirit of sloth,

faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.

But give rather the spirit of chastity,

humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.

Yea, O Lord and King!

Grant me to see my own errors

and not to judge my sisters and brothers;

For Thou art blessed unto ages of ages.

Amen.

Focusing on the Negative

Last week we entered “the” Lenten prayer of the Orthodox Church. This little prayer which plays such a prominent role in the Eastern Church’s Lenten habits, spells out rather succinctly, in a unique way, “all the negative and positive elements of repentance and constitutes…a ‘check list’ for our individual Lenten effort.” And our “Lenten effort” has been nothing less than giving up all those things that keep us from seeing Jesus with us and others in our place of need.

Here on the home stretch of our pilgrimage, we will use this short petition to help us keep our aim in focus. This week, we’ll focus on the negative, on giving up. Pray this prayer four times. Focus on one of the emboldened words each time you pray. Let yourself be honest with God, acknowledging what you need to let go of in this season. To help, I’ve provided a brief descriptor of the “negative” words below. Read them over, see the ways you are holding on to them, and then let the Spirit lead you to give up your grip.

sloth | the laziness and passivity that cultivates an apathy towards the “change(s)” of a new life being worth the effort

faint-heartedness | the result of sloth which is the loss of hope and courage that anything good and positive can be experienced

lust of power | what feels our hearts when the aim of new life—life in God—is lost, an attitude toward life that evaluates everything in terms of “me”; my needs, my ideas, my desires, my judgments

ideal talk | words—written, spoken, heard, or seen—which enforce sloth, faint-heartedness, and the lust of power; words that are not Truth, which make life into the absence of Truth (i.e., “hell”).

O Lord and Master of my life!

Take from me the spirit of sloth,

faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.

But give rather the spirit of chastity,

humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.

Yea, O Lord and King!

Grant me to see my own errors

and not to judge my sisters and brothers;

For Thou art blessed unto ages of ages.

Amen.

"The" Lenten Prayer

In the Orthodox Church, there is a simple prayer that occupies significant importance within their weekly liturgy. Every Monday through Friday during the weeks of Lent, this short prayer is prayed twice daily. After the first reading, the worshiping participants bow prostrate, falling on their knees and faces, at each petition for God to “take” and “give.” Continuing the physicality of the prayer, the church family bows twelve times in humble act of hope saying “O God, cleanse me a sinner.” And then the prayer is prayed for the second time and all fall again in silence.

While the motion and repetition might feel strange and a bit perplexing to most of us, the reason the Orthodox tradition places this little prayer so prominently in their Lenten habits is that it spells out rather succinctly, in a unique way, “all the negative and positive elements of repentance and constitutes…a ‘check list’ for our individual lenten effort.” After all, through the season of Lent, our aim has been to fall, to give up on all those things that keep us from truly living so that we might rise into the life of God which is offered to us.

So for the next several weeks, we’ll continue incorporating this prayer into our Lenten traditions. Today, and throughout this week, let this prayer conclude your daily time with our Father. Whatever else you are doing, listening to, reading, or talking with God about; let the repetition of this prayer keep our aim in focus.

Pray with me,

O Lord and Master of my life!

Take from me the spirit of sloth,

faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.

But give rather the spirit of chastity,

humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.

Yea, O Lord and King!

Grant me to see my own errors

and not to judge my sisters and brothers;

For Thou art blessed unto ages of ages.

Amen.

Next Foot Forward

One of the most difficult parts of a journey is just putting the next foot forward. Lacking momentum, generally content and comfortable where we find ourselves, the prospects of a journey may be alluring, but the energy needed to begin has a host of hindrances. This is especially true for a journey like the one we are on through the Lenten season—a pilgrimage with Jesus that has us falling and rising.

While we know what awaits us on the other side, it still takes courage and faith to confess what keeps us from life anew today. So this week, let’s put our next foot forward together, knowing that what we are confessing is being confessed by our sisters and brothers too. And that together, we make our confession from the sure orientation, “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” (Ps. 32:1)

As we did on Ash Wednesday, we’ll pray a portion of the “Litany of Penitence,” but this time, as we pray get specific. Let yourself dwell long enough in the “general” confession (emboldened) until there are specifics for you to share with our gracious Father. Then, pray the remainder of the prayer as one who is already “Blessed…whom the LORD counts no iniquity” because of Jesus.

Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and with one another,
that we have sinned.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, nor mind, nor strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven. Have mercy on us, gracious Father.

We turn to you, Father, acknowledging our divided, wounded, and self-absorbed hearts.

Restore us, good Father,
Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Bring to maturity the fruit of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our King and Friend,
Bring us with all your saints into the complete joy of Jesus’ resurrection.

Amen.

Praying Like Psalmists

The psalms are a “school of prayer” that God’s children have attended for millennia. These poetic prayers do more than give us words to use in our prayers, they invite us to find our voice within them. The language of the psalms is not merely descriptive, it is evocative. It is language mean to evoke, to bring to mind an image, a memory, a feeling, that then leads us to prayer.

This evocative nature is especially true for our seven psalms of Lent. The words of these psalms particularly, draw us into an image or memory or feeling of pain or surprise for ourselves and/or those around us. And in doing so, invite us to find God at these needy places.

So today, take a moment to pray Psalm 6. Before starting, ask the Spirit to help you see as you go, who and for what you are praying. Then, read each paragraph and let whatever image, memory, or feeling that comes to mind (whether for you or another) lead you to express the psalmists words in your own words. Then do the same for the next paragraph and the next, until the you’ve concluded the psalm.

WRESTLING WITH GOD

Please, God, no more yelling, no more trips to the woodshed. Treat me nice for a change; I’m so starved for affection. Can’t you see I’m black-and-blue, beat up badly in bones and soul? God, how long will it take for you to let up?

WRESTLING WITH LIFE

Break in, God, and break up this fight; if you love me at all, get me out of here. I’m no good to you dead, am I? I can’t sing in your choir if I’m buried in some tomb!

DONE WRESTLING

I’m tired of all this—so tired. My bed has been floating forty days and nights On the flood of my tears. My mattress is soaked, soggy with tears. The sockets of my eyes are black holes; nearly blind, I squint and grope.

SURPRISED BY HOPE

Get out of here, you Devil’s crew: at last God has heard my sobs. My requests have all been granted, my prayers are answered. Cowards, my enemies disappear. Disgraced, they turn tail and run.

Lord, When Did We See You

“Lord, when did we see you…?” That is the question “the righteous” ask when welcomed fully and finally into the life prepared for them. It is the question we’ll be asking ourselves and one another throughout this Lenten season. And, our prayer this week is a prayer we’ll be praying with and for one another as we journey with Jesus through his fall and rising…and ours too.

So, let’s pray together,

Father, as we open ourselves to your life in us and our lives in yours, help us to see those in need of life, those longing for it, striving after it, and even the ones giving up on it. Let our heart be yours and grant us the compassion and courage to enter into their neediness, as you have entered into ours. Give us eyes to see you in our spouses, our children, our siblings, in our roommates, classmates, teammates, in our coworkers, neighbors, strangers, and in the neglected and one another. And, with eyes fixed on you, let us give what we have graciously been given, your life in ours for those in need. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Plain & Personal

We began the year taking Jesus at his word, praying with him for our Father’s kingdom to come and will done in our city as it is in heaven. This week we’ll keep to the habit of taking God at this word, praying for the manifestation of what He said is a good life, for us and for our neighbors.

This week, pray Micah 6:6-8 three times through. When you’ve finished, give yourself a minute or two to sit in the silence, breathing in the truth of the plain and personal expectations God has for you, and why, in your life with Him.

Father, how can we stand before YOU

and show proper respect to our GOD of gods?

Do You desire us to bring an armload of offerings

topped off with our finest possessions?

Would You, Father, be impressed with if we emptied our bank accounts,

poured out to You buckets and barrels of all that we can produce?

Father, would You be moved if we sacrificed our firstborn, the precious fruit of our body for the sin of our soul?

No?! That’s not what You require. You’ve already made it plain how to live, what to do,

what You, Father, are looking for in humanity, in us. It’s quite simple, and personal You say:

Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,

be compassionate and loyal in your love,

And don’t take yourselves too seriously—

take You and You with us, seriously.

That’s it! And if we know what is good for us, we’ll listen.

Praying As Abiding

Sometimes I tend to think of the things we do in our faith, things like reading the Bible, worshiping with others, serving one another, and, especially, prayer, as something done so that I can get in on life with God. That is, after I read, worship, serve, and pray, I’ll be more in step with God. Stack together enough of these things, and I’ll really be living right. Or so I think, and therefore act, on occasion.

You may not think or act like me, but if you do, I want to encourage you this week as I encourage myself. Rather than praying our Collective Prayer as a means to get us somewhere in our faith, let’s pray as our abiding, as if the very thing we do is done because we are already in life with God, trusting that our praying doesn’t change us, but we are changed in praying. Because our life is hidden in Christ, and God’s Kingdom is within us, we pray:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread, and let us trust in bread for tomorrow.

Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive those who owe us.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil and the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Galvanize Our Days

This week we conclude our exercise in particularizing Jesus’ instruction to pray for our Father’s kingdom to come and will to be done in our time and place as it is in heaven.

Adapting Ernest Campbell’s “A City-Dweller’s Prayer,” we’ll focus our attention on the final stanza (embolden below). When you get to this part of the prayer, slow down. Let the words sink into your heart, and let the Spirit lead you to express the specifics on which they light: the maze of opportunities, of could be’s and what if’s which suffocate hope, and the heart of Jesus which grants us energy and clarity to live the Way as people new. Confess and express these things, for yourself and as a part of our social collective, in the presence of the One for whom nothing is hidden. Then conclude with a shared “Amen”.

Come back to these words and insights throughout the week ahead, allowing the heart and life of Jesus to galvanize our way forward together.

Pray with your faith family…

Father, our God of every time and place,

prevail among us too;

within the city that we live

among the people whose streets we share

and whose souls we learn to love,

your promise to renew.

Our people move with downcast eyes,

tight, sullen, and afraid;

Surprise us with your joy divine,

for we would be remade.

O Father whose will we can resist,

but cannot overcome,

Forgive our harsh and strident ways,

the harm that we have done.

Like Babel’s builders long ago

we raise our lofty towers,

And like them, too, our words divide,

and pride lays waste our powers.

Behind the masks that we maintain

to shut our sadness in,

There lurks the hope, however dim,

to live once more as your design.

Let wrong embolden us to fight,

and need excite our care;

If not us, who? If not now, when?

If not here, Father, then where?

Our forebears stayed their minds on you

in village, farm, and plain;

Help us, their crowded, harried kin,

no less your peace to claim.

Give us to know that you do love

each soul that you have made;

That size does not diminish grace,

nor concrete hide your gaze.

Grant us, Father, those who labor here

within this throbbing maze,

A forward-looking, saving hope

to galvanize our days.

Let Jesus, who loved Jerusalem,

and wept its sin to mourn,

Make just our laws and pure our hearts;

so shall we be reborn!

In, Through, and To Jesus we pray, Amen.

To Live Once More

We’ll continue to make particular Jesus’ instruction to pray for our Father’s kingdom to come and will to be done in our time and place as it is in heaven.

Adapting Ernest Campbell’s “A City-Dweller’s Prayer,” we’ll focus our attention this week on the third stanza (embolden below). When you get to this part of the prayer, slow down. Let the words sink into your heart, and let the Spirit lead you to express the specifics on which they light: the masks we and neighbors wear as protection, the longings, and pursuits to be who we are truly created to be (and all the false selfs sold and bought in our society), the timidity that keeps us from “issues” and the courage to know our place in salvation's story here and now. Confess and express these things, for yourself and as a part of our social collective, in the presence of the One for whom nothing is hidden. Then finish the prayer.

Come back to these words and insights throughout the week ahead, seeing through what divides to what and who unites, and trusting that He is working in and through you for those around you even now.

Pray with your faith family…

Father, our God of every time and place,

prevail among us too;

within the city that we live

among the people whose streets we share

and whose souls we learn to love,

your promise to renew.

Our people move with downcast eyes,

tight, sullen, and afraid;

Surprise us with your joy divine,

for we would be remade.

O Father whose will we can resist,

but cannot overcome,

Forgive our harsh and strident ways,

the harm that we have done.

Like Babel’s builders long ago

we raise our lofty towers,

And like them, too, our words divide,

and pride lays waste our powers.

Behind the masks that we maintain

to shut our sadness in,

There lurks the hope, however dim,

to live once more as your design.

Let wrong embolden us to fight,

and need excite our care;

If not us, who? If not now, when?

If not here, Father, then where?

Our forebears stayed their minds on you

in village, farm, and plain;

Help us, their crowded, harried kin,

no less your peace to claim.

Give us to know that you do love

each soul that you have made;

That size does not diminish grace,

nor concrete hide your gaze.

Grant us, Father, those who labor here

within this throbbing maze,

A forward-looking, saving hope

to galvanize our days.

Let Jesus, who loved Jerusalem,

and wept its sin to mourn,

Make just our laws and pure our hearts;

so shall we be reborn!

We Can Resist...But Cannot Overcome

Last week we began praying a prayer as a particularized expression of the way Jesus taught us to pray:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

We’ll continue the adaptation of Ernest Campbell’s “A City-Dweller’s Prayer” this week, focussing our attention on the second stanza (embolden below). When you get to this part of the prayer, slow down. Let the words sink into your heart, and let the Spirit lead you to express the specifics on which they light: your and our ways of resisting, which are harsh, divisive, and prideful. Confess them, for yourself and as a part of our social collective, and then finish the prayer.

Come back to these words and insights throughout the week ahead, confessing, repenting, and receiving the grace of the One through whom you are reborn, whose will cannot be overcome.

Pray with your faith family…

Father, our God of every time and place,

prevail among us too;

within the city that we live

among the people whose streets we share

and whose souls we learn to love,

your promise to renew.

Our people move with downcast eyes,

tight, sullen, and afraid;

Surprise us with your joy divine,

for we would be remade.

O Father whose will we can resist,

but cannot overcome,

Forgive our harsh and strident ways,

the harm that we have done.

Like Babel’s builders long ago

we raise our lofty towers,

And like them, too, our words divide,

and pride lays waste our powers.

Behind the masks that we maintain

to shut our sadness in,

There lurks the hope, however dim,

to live once more as your design.

Let wrong embolden us to fight,

and need excite our care;

If not us, who? If not now, when?

If not here, Father, then where?

Our forebears stayed their minds on you

in village, farm, and plain;

Help us, their crowded, harried kin,

no less your peace to claim.

Give us to know that you do love

each soul that you have made;

That size does not diminish grace,

nor concrete hide your gaze.

Grant us, Father, those who labor here

within this throbbing maze,

A forward-looking, saving hope

to galvanize our days.

Let Jesus, who loved Jerusalem,

and wept its sin to mourn,

Make just our laws and pure our hearts;

so shall we be reborn!

God of Every Time and Place

When asked by his apprentices how to pray, Jesus gave them a rather straightforward model to get them started. “The Lord’s Prayer,” as we call it, begins with the declarative invocation, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” All at once, Jesus proclaims the majestic truth of intimacy and breadth of God‘s rule and humbly summons that authority over the details of daily life.

This month, as we did so a year ago, we are going to pray a prayer together that is learned from Jesus’ prayer. A prayer for our Father’s kingdom to come and his will to be done in our time and place in His-story. In each of the following weeks, we’ll draw out a particular part of this prayer to give us focus. This week though, let’s refamiliarize ourselves with the prayer, letting the Spirit lead us to invite the “God of every time and place,” to be the Father whose care and wisdom take active shape in us, through us, and for our neighbors.

Let us pray together an adaption of Ernest Campbell’s “A City-Dweller’s Prayer.”

Father, our God of every time and place,

prevail among us too;

within the city that we live

among the people whose streets we share

and whose souls we learn to love,

your promise to renew.

Our people move with downcast eyes,

tight, sullen, and afraid;

Surprise us with your joy divine,

for we would be remade.

O Father whose will we can resist,

but cannot overcome,

Forgive our harsh and strident ways,

the harm that we have done.

Like Babel’s builders long ago

we raise our lofty towers,

And like them, too, our words divide,

and pride lays waste our powers.

Behind the masks that we maintain

to shut our sadness in,

There lurks the hope, however dim,

to live once more as your design.

Let wrong embolden us to fight,

and need excite our care;

If not us, who? If not now, when?

If not here, Father, then where?

Our forebears stayed their minds on you

in village, farm, and plain;

Help us, their crowded, harried kin,

no less your peace to claim.

Give us to know that you do love

each soul that you have made;

That size does not diminish grace,

nor concrete hide your gaze.

Grant us, Father, those who labor here

within this throbbing maze,

A forward-looking, saving hope

to galvanize our days.

Let Jesus, who loved Jerusalem,

and wept its sin to mourn,

Make just our laws and pure our hearts;

so shall we be reborn!

On The Twelfth Day of Christmas...

Refugee | Malcolm Guite

We think of him as safe beneath the steeple,

Or cosy in a crib beside the font,

But he is with a million displaced people

On the long road of weariness and want.

For even as we sing our final carol

His family is up and on the road,

Fleeing the wrath of someone else’s quarrel,

Glancing behind and shouldering the load.

Whilst Herod rages still from his dark tower,

Christ clings to Mary, fingers tightly curled,

The lambs are slaughtered by the men of power,

And death squads spread their curse across the world.

But every Herod dies, and comes alone

To stand before the Lamb upon the throne.