06/27/2024
I don't really find myself praying very much anymore. But I used to. Here's a prayer I wrote in 2020...for peace.
A Prayer for Peace
God, it's become almost a cliché to speak of these difficult days. There are hard things
at every turn.
Institutions that we once took for granted seem frail or
impotent in the face of the wave of issues that greet us with each morning's
headlines. Our divisions are stark and often seem unbridgeable.
We are weary.
Our emotions are raw and easily triggered.
Anger flares
And with it, frustration, criticism, and skepticism; hurt and hostility.
Fear rises
And with it, anxiety and insecurity; confusion;
helplessness and discouragement. A sense of insignificance
Sadness descends
And with it loneliness; our inadequacies emphasized; shame and guilt;
apathy, misery, and depression.
God, we feel these. Deeply.
Often unarticulated and misunderstood, we attempt to numb them with
diversion or denial or shame or substances
But those attempts fail because they ultimately fuel more of the very feelings from
which we seek relief.
We ask for a more discerning awareness:
That our anger takes root in the very same soil from which our power springs.
We are faithful and helpful, confident and intelligent, valuable, and respected.
Our fears lie in contrast to the peacefulness we have known
in times of contentment and thoughtful contemplation
in times of intimacy and trust, of nurturing and being nurtured
in times of relaxation and thankfulness
Our sadness is more acute because we have known joy
Joy when creativity flowed
when we were fascinated and curious and stimulated and aware and energetic.
when excitement rose with anticipation of time together with friends and family
when laughter and playfulness was spontaneous
when there is awareness of others whom we love and who loves us back
God, you have created us with all of these capacities:
For anger and power
For fear and peacefulness
For sadness and joy
These are the places within ourselves where extravagance of spirit
flows to all whom we have the opportunity to bless.
For we know you have blessed us
to be the selves you have created each of us to be
And we know that you have blessed us so that we might be a blessing.
But, we have conditioned ourselves to engage in what Adam Watts called,
"the hide and seek of the 'I' and 'me.'
The 'good I' trying to change 'bad me' who is really the same fellow as 'good I.'
God, we are human
And by that, we acknowledge that we are created in your image.
And we acknowledge we are animated by you and in you.
And with all these words, we struggle to phrase our request.
For what could we ask of you that might bring healing to this place in which
We are all groping for some handle to grasp and
some solid ground on which to stand?
We trust that you will speak to us in this very place in which we find ourselves
because we trust that you are not distant but present.
Your grace and mercy speaks to us
In a still small voice at once
angry and powerful
sad and joyful
fearful and peaceful…
Shalom, Salaam, Peace
We ask that this peace might flourish in our daily lives.
That we might flourish in our relationship with you
That we might flourish in our relations with our fellow human beings
That we might flourish in our relation to nature
That we might flourish in our relation to ourselves
We ask that you might use each of us as instruments of your peace.
The peace that passes all understanding.
We ask that you bless us and keep us and
that your face might shine upon us and be gracious to us.
And that this peace will be our home.
Amen.
—Mike Young, November 2020
