Prayer for the Stretched and Stressed

 

Perplexing, puzzling, playful, praising God, thank you for words of wisdom that meet us where we are, stretch us to new shapes we did not think possible, and for new insights that dance in our hearts.  Help us, for we are always trying/striving/searching to reconcile the Sermon on the Mount with the Gospels of the World.  We are continually formed, not just in Your image God, but by a world that grumbles about gas prices, exhausted by our own busy schedules because we are not sure how to say, “No”, and feeling that “not enoughness” even as You continually call to us with “belovedness”.  God, we pray You would gospel our lives with the Sermon on the Mount, meet us in moments of fascination and frustration and form us to faithfulness with Your light of love.  Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the living of this day and the days to come, O God of grace and glory.  In the name of the One whose words we have wrestled with and sought a blessing from, Jesus the Christ.  Amen.