May 24, 2023
“It Was a Real Eyer-Opener:”A Prayer
O Lord, it was a real eye-opener, looking back was a
real eye-opener, looking back over
sermons preached years ago,
prayers prayed years ago,
twenty, thirty years ago and more
was a real eye-opener, because
what I read could have been written
just yesterday,
subject the same,
mass shootings,
poisonous politics,
vicious violence,
fear and anxiety and anger,
bitterness and resentment and hate,
prejudice and cruelty and lies, evil unending,
lack of values,
lack of virtues,
lack of character,
compromised Christianity,
superficial belief and sorry behavior,
uncertainty, war, new wars, always war;
same old, same old,
broken record playing,
twenty, thirty years and more,
sermons spoken,
prayers prayed,
year after year, but
nothing happening,
nothing changing,
nothing done,
not really;
and so, wonder:
Why preach, pray, at all?
Doesn’t seem to do much good,
still living the way lived years ago,
still feeling what felt then,
still facing what faced then;
not mean
personal disease,
personal troubles,
personal problems,
what the years have brought us;
but
disease diseasing culture,
troubles troubling nation,
problems plaguing public,
what the years have brought us;
a culture more diseased than ever,
national troubles more troubling than ever,
public problems more problematic than ever,
what the years continue to bring us;
and that’s
what was
so eye-opening,
come so far
in twenty, thirty years and more and yet,
haven’t come very far at all, so
in a sense,
same sermons spoken,
same prayers prayed,
different years not different,
same.
And the thing is, O Lord, I keep asking myself over and over:
Why do we keep living like this?
Why do we have to keep living this?
Why do we need to keep living this?
Is it because we have learned nothing from the past?
“Live in the now,”people say, but the
“now”is what the past creates,
and so maybe
what our eyes should be open to is
what the past teaches us, so that
the “now”is not the past
still present;
and eyes open
to see that
we don’t have to live this this, not if
mothers would say enough is enough, and
fathers and students and believers and
non-believers too, young and old alike,
lovers of this land, all
would say it,
because politicians
will never say it, unless
pushed to say it,
prodded to say it,
pressured to say it,
and finally, actually, do enough so that we
don’t have to live like we do;
but maybe what
our eyes most need to be open to is
how many need to live like we do;
need fear to win elections,
need violence to get a thrill,
need prejudice to feel better
than others,
need anger
to feel that not a nobody but somebody,
need lies
to believe lies we love true;
don’t want to overcome differences because
lose power,
lose identity,
lose attention;
don’t want to hear truth because
might have to
change thinking,
change opinions,
change beliefs;
don’t want to live with compassion because
makes it harder to
dislike those dislike,
laugh at those laugh at,
keep distant those keep distant;
it’s my great fear,
that far too many need to live like we do, live with
eyes closed.
O Lord, I’ve prayed it again and again and again, and
I’m going to pray it once again because
needs to be prayed again and again and again,
pray
that you would
open our eyes
to what life
intended to be, meant to be, ought to be;
open our eyes
to what can be
if only we lived your truth, your love, your mercy;
open our eyes
to what can happen
when at last what we want more than anything
not to live the way we do,
not to have to live the way we do,
not to need to live the way we do,
and learn
what the past teaches us,
what the present is telling us,
what the future can take us to,
and obey
what you have commanded
for twenty, thirty, two thousand years and more.
And we pray again, and will continue to pray again and again
for those battling disease and illness, those who are
suffering and hurting, those who are dying, those
who are grieving, and those who are shut-in
and feel trapped in their failing bodies,
and for the homeless, the hungry, refugees
around the world.
Grace them with healing, comfort, strength, consolation,
food and shelter and hope!
O Lord, it was a real eye opener for sure, a startling
reminder of all that we need to
stop doing,
start doing,
stop being,
start being,
stop believing,
start believing,
so that
twenty, thirty years and more from now,
our children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren
will no longer have to pray prayers like this,
but will be able to pray
prayers giving thanks that
they don’t have to live
the way we did.
Amen.