Prayers for Epiphanies

 

At the end of the week, we will celebrate Epiphany and on Sunday, January 8, we will honor the Wise Ones who come with gifts to Jesus.  Today, I invite you to read these words from theologian Walter Brueggemann

 

On Epiphany day, we are still the people walking. We are still people in the dark, and the darkness looms large around us, beset as we are by fear, anxiety, brutality, violence, loss — a dozen alienations that we cannot manage. We are — we could be — people of your light. So we pray for the light of your glorious presence as we wait for your appearing; we pray for the light of your wondrous grace as we exhaust our coping capacity; we pray for your gift of newness that will override our weariness; we pray that we may see and know and hear and trust in your good rule. That we may have energy, courage, and faith to enact your rule through the demands of this day. We submit our day to you and to your rule, with deep joy and high hope.

 

Yesterday, we paused to ponder prayerfully times God showed up in our lives.  Today, I invite you to pay attention to the weariness that might be lingering left over from last year.  Maybe for you the pandemic or polarization or personal issues have your soul tired.  Maybe you wanted to leave all that in 2022, but some of it has already shown up in this new year.  Maybe the fresh canvass of 2023 has been tarnished by an experience or encounter you did not anticipate or want.  Now you are wondering how to creatively include the hurt or brokenness in the art project of life.  Maybe there is something that is unsettled and even unsolvable that has been hanging out for years now.

 

List what has exhausted your coping capacities; drained you; left you weary.  Name that which is broken or bruised.  Name where you are frustrated.  Hold all this gently and tenderly.  Hold your life for the preciousness of it, that can also be precarious and fragile.  Hold the Aha and the Good Lords we mutter aloud. 

 

Prayer: God, You move in our lives with goodness and grace that surprises; and then there are times when our soul is exhausted and stretched too thin.  You promise to meet us both when the laughter is easy and when the way seems too long.  Meet us here on this third day of 2023 with Your continual presence.  Meet us in the messiness with a meaning that can transform our whole lives.  In the name of the One who lived his life ~ the good, the bad, and the ugly ~ open to You, Jesus the Christ.  Amen.