Photo by Chris Zhang on Unsplash
God of our times, our years, our days.
You are the God of our work,
of our rest,
of our weariness.
Our times are in your hands. We come to you now
in our strength and in our weakness,
in our hope and in our despair,
in our buoyancy and in our disease.
We come to pray for ourselves and for all like us
who seek and yearn for life anew with you and from you
and for you.
We pray to you this day, for ourselves and others like us in our greed
We are among those who want more,
more money, more power, more piety, more sex,
more influence, more doctrine, more notice,
more members,
more students, more morality, more learning, more shoes.
Be for us enough and more than enough,
for we know about your self-giving generosity.
We are among those who want more,
more money, more power, more piety, more sex,
more influence, more doctrine, more notice,
more members,
more students, more morality, more learning, more shoes.
Be for us enough and more than enough,
for we know about your self-giving generosity.
We pray to you this day; for ourselves and others like us
in our disconsolation.
We are not far removed from those without.
without love. without home, without hope,
without job, without health care.
We are close enough to vision those who must
check discarded butts to see if there is one more puff,
who must rummage and scavenge for food.
for their hungers are close to ours.
Be among us the God who fills the hungry with good things,
and sends the rich away empty.
in our disconsolation.
We are not far removed from those without.
without love. without home, without hope,
without job, without health care.
We are close enough to vision those who must
check discarded butts to see if there is one more puff,
who must rummage and scavenge for food.
for their hungers are close to ours.
Be among us the God who fills the hungry with good things,
and sends the rich away empty.
We pray to you this day, for ourselves and others like us
who are genuinely good people,
who meditate on your Torah day and night.
who are propelled by and for your best causes.
who are on the right side of every issue,
who wear ourselves out in obedience to you,
and sometimes wear others out with our good intentions.
Be among us ultimate enough
to make our passions penultimate,
valid but less than crucial.
We are your people. We wait for you to be more visibly
and palpably our God.
So we pray with our mothers and fathers, ” Come, Lord Jesus.”
We wait for your coming with all the graciousness we can muster.
Amen.
Walter Brueggemann, 1933 – 2025, American Protestant Old Testament theologian
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Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace,
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
prayer & verse 
