Obedience Prayer

Master help us to see how we live in antagonism to the way of love.
We surrender the entirety of our beings to the work of your spirit,
that our mouths would speak words of healing and encouragement,
that our bodies would be offered to labor for purpose of love,
that our minds would dwell on your words,
and our hearts beat with the rhythm of yours.

May your kingdom come
and your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven

as it was in the beginning
is now
and ever shall be
world without end

Amen.

awaken

it's been anounced
the invitation been extended

it lies
in
the breath of our lungs
the beat of our heart


our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the empires and powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil

the master made it clear his kingdom is not of this world, but from another place

inspired and fueled by his spirit

it's worked out
through our hands
through our feet
channeled through our imagination

it lies
in
the breath of our lungs
the beat of our heart

wake up and rise oh sleeper
that christ may shine

Open what has been closed

I found this prayer today by Walter Bruggeman.

Come to Our Shut Down Places

It does not come easy to us to imagine that You
closed the womb of mother Hannah
and thereby foreclosed the future for a time.

And yet, we can name in your presence
a myriad of shut down places around us…
those shut down in poverty and despair,
those shut down in fear and in rage,
those shut down by abuse and violence,
too hurt to speak,
too frightened to appear,
too scarred to dance.

And closer, our own shut downs:
in anxiety, in resentment, in pretense,
too weary to care,
too weary to share,
too much of us for neighbor.
These are all your doing, we confess.

But you are the God who opens all shut downs:
by your power, you give futures,
by your goodness, you give hope,
by your mercy, you make new.

So we bid you this day come to our shut down places
and give birth anew.
We pray through the Easter opening of the Friday shut-downs.
Amen.

- Bruggeman, p.119, Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth


If you've never read the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1 I highly recommend it. It is the story of shut down places being opened by a God who does remember us and looks at us in love.

121406

there are worries, wants, and ways
of which I don't understand
moments in life when clarity simply does not exist
it's thematic, cycles of my life
in which tragedies occur
tragedies as a result of my existence

running - futile,
figuring a solution - no avail,

threads of grace weave their way in like interlocking fingers
i'm broken for you my love
your anger rages from my demon
my demon which I am meant to wreslte

it's my good fight
tragically you've come into play
curiousity won you over

life is pulsating tonight
grip it and clinge
rise to it
it can be beautiful