Pastoral Prayer for July 14, 2024

Our pastoral prayer this morning comes to us from Ted Loder.

Please allow his words to become your own.

O Eternal One,​​ 

it would be easier for me to pray

if I were clear and of a single mind;

if I could be done hiding from myself

and from you, even in my prayers.

But, I am who I am,

a mixture of motives and excuses,

blur of memories,

quiver of hopes,

knot of fear,

tangle of confusion.

I wander somewhere between

gratitude and grievance,

wonder and routine,

high resolve and undone dreams.

Come, find me, Lord.

Be with me exactly as I am.

Help me find me, Lord.

Help me accept what I am,

so I can begin to be yours.

Make of me something small enough for humility,

young enough to question,

simple enough to laugh,

old enough to forget,

foolish enough to act for justice and peace,

skeptical enough to doubt

the sufficiency of anything but you,

and attentive enough to listen

as you call me out of the tomb of my timidity

into the clumsy glory of my possibilities

and the power of your presence.

Amen.