Once again this month I am passing along a prayer.  It was written by Walter Brueggemann, a former professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur.  It's the perfect prayer for us as a congregation as we enter the fall and consider priorities and plans for the upcoming year because our future very much depends on each of us saying Yes to God and committing ourselves to God's work in and through us.  Not "perhaps" or "maybe", but a simple, strong Yes.

You are the God who is simple, direct, clear with us and for us.
You have committed yourself to us.
You have said yes to us in creation,
                               yes to us in our birth,
                               yes to us in our baptism,
                               yes to us in our awakening this day.

But we are of another kind,
               more accustomed to “perhaps, maybe, we’ll see,”
                left in wonderment and ambiguity.

We live our lives not back to your yes,
                                but out of our endless “perhaps.”

So we pray for your mercy this day that we may live yes back to
you,
                                 yes with our time,
                                  yes with our money,
                                  yes with our strength and with our weakness,
                                  yes to our neighbor,
                                  yes and no longer “perhaps.”

In the name of your enfleshed yes to us,
              even Jesus who is our yes into your future. Amen.

                                                                                                                     God be with you,
                                                                                                                                 Jeff