Prayer
for Today
“So
we need some reminders, Lord. Remind us that for every tragedy that’s ‘newsworthy’
there are a million kindnesses, and countless acts of love that go unreported. (Personal
note: remind me that I can take Twitter off my phone. Like, always an option.)”
Nadia
Bolz-Weber (Prayer)
This is
a reminder that we should give ourselves every day. There are monstrous
tragedies happening in this world right now that we know about because of the
ratings they get on the news networks. What we don’t see are the millions of
acts of kindness that happen at the same time. They just don’t pull in viewers
like fighting in the streets. It is easy to lose perspective when all you see
and hear is bad news. More reason to take breaks from technology.
I don’t
have twitter on my phone, or any place else. I know that makes me old and out
of touch, and I don’t care. If I spent even one hour a day listening to or
watching people snipe at each other and say nasty things they would never say face to face, unless of course they happen to be a politician, I would be
miserable. I’m tired of fighting and hacking one another to pieces with our
words just to make a point. I need a moratorium.
I like Nadia
Bolz-Weber’s earnest prayers, though. She is famous for lacing them with
profanity, which offends some folks since she is a “woman of the cloth.” For
instance, she prays, “Lord, remind us that good things are happening even in
the shit-storm we’re going through now.” Most of the people I respect as
theologians use a little bit of barnyard talk in their prayers. I don’t think
the holy One is offended; I’m sure God has heard worse.
The
main thing is that you pray in whatever form appeals to you. Don’t think that
because someone says off-color words in their yearnings to heaven, their prayers
are nullified. It is the yearning that speaks to God, and not the specific
words—there is no language barrier with the Almighty. Prayers spoken in English
are not more delightful to God’s ears than prayers spoken in Mandarin, for
instance. One could read the entire Book of Common prayer every single day, but
if the yearning is not there, it would be a waste of breath. Even if your
prayer consists of one sentence spoken with passion, it is preferable to a thousand
flowery words without heart.
All
that aside, this is a time that calls for prayer—earnest, heartfelt prayer. We
need help. The world needs help. We humans have made a huge mess of things. It’s
time to beg for help, for guidance, for a return to brotherhood and good will.
Make time to pray today—from your heart.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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