Friday, November 6, 2020

Prayer with Open Hymnals and Open Hearts

 


O God, I woke up this morning with my mind, stay on Jesus.  I woke up this morning knowing that I had to lean into Your everlasting arms.  I woke up this morning knowing full-well that I need Thee every hour.  I woke up this morning with the hymnal of my heart longing to be expressed in what I do and say and go about this day.  

I pray the words this morning realizing that You are the God of all the nations, “This is my song, O God of all the nations, A song of peace for lands afar and mine. This is my home, the country where my heart is; Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine; But other hearts in other lands are beating With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.”  Those words sing to my soul.  Those words call out to my heart to realize that so often my focus can be too narrow only on me.  I forget the pain of my brothers and sisters in other countries also struggling with coronavirus, economic hardship, polarization, and pain.  We are so caught up in our own narratives that we don’t listen to others stories or we are too quick to dismiss them or we disregard rather than letting another’s story disrupt the way we live our lives.  You, O God along with the Spirit/Sophia/Wisdom, crafted and created us – all of us – in Your image.  You crafted and created us with all the colors of the crayon box, with all the beautiful diverse understandings, with a variety of ways we can encounter and experience Your holiness.  You love creation, all of it, from the tiniest particle of soil to the stars twinkling thousands of miles away.  From Sarasota to Seattle to Sidney to Sicily to the person next door on our street.  This meta-narrative seems too big sometimes to live our lives by.  Yet, it is a powerful truth, You invite us to hear.  This is my hope and the hope of people in diverse places I may never visit. Yet in Your mystery, somehow in some way, this prayer moves my heart this day.  Ground me in grace.  Lead me with love.  Trusting that this prayer is one that unites us around the world.  Amen.


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