Praying with Walter Brueggemann

We are a people with many words and much talk:
creeds and
ads and
propaganda and
slogans and
sound bytes.

We keep listening among these words for comfort,
and we find ourselves made
anxious by the cacophony.

And then – the din is broken;
You speak and we enter the zone of address.

You speak and we are called by name.
You name and we are summoned -
summoned, commanded, sent.

We hear and cringe and pause…
overwhelmed by mandate.
We listen and you speak again:
you utter words of presence,
promises of protection,
assurances of solidarity.

We breathe easier, still afraid,
but on our way, at risk, not alone.

Give us good ears in these days,
that we may hear the mandate
and listen for assurance.

That even such as us may speak you well,
you in your sovereignty,
you in your fidelity,
you in your sadness,
and in your newness.

Let your word be fleshed through our tongues and
on our lips,
that our fleshed verbiage may truly echo
your word made flesh via Nazareth.

From Prayers for a Privileged People

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