Prayer & Praise

God of all our times:

We have known since the day of our birth that our primal task is to grow to basic trust in you,

to rely on you in every circumstance,

to know that you would return when you are away,

to trust that in your absence you will soon be present,

to be assured that your silence bespeaks attentiveness and not neglect,

to know that in your abiding faithfulness, “all will be well and all will be well.”

We do trust in you: we are named by your name, and bonded in your service.

We are among those who sing your praise and who know of your deep faithfulness.

You, you, however, are not easy to trust:

We pray against a closed sky;

our hopes reduced to auto-suggestion;

our petitions are more habit than hope;

our intercessions are kindly gestures of well-being.

Sometimes more, many times not, because your silence and absence, your indifference and tardiness are glaring among us.

We are drawn to find lesser gods,

easier loyalties,

many forms of self-trust … that do not even fool us.

We pray for new measures of passion, for fresh waves of resolve, for courage, energy, and freedom, to be our true selves … waiting in confidence, and while waiting, acting our life toward you in your ways of forgiving generosity.

We pray in the name of Jesus who trusted fully, and who is himself fully worthy of our trust. Amen.

Walter Brueggemann. Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: The Prayers of Walter Brueggemann (p. 48). Kindle Edition.