March 10, 2021
Ok, Lord, I Give Up! A Prayer
Ok, Lord, I give up!
What are we supposed to believe?
Who are we supposed to believe?
How can we believe anyone or
anything
anymore?
And while I’m at it,
what is true,
what is not true,
how do we know whose truth is
true?
(Hey, someone said he saw it on Facebook, she
read it on Twitter, it was right there online,
so it must be true.
Right?
Wrong!
Then again, who knows?)
And all the
information
informing us in this age of
information –
what is reliable information, what is unreliable
information, or have I been
misinformed about
misinformation?
And I might as well throw in:
what is real,
what is not real,
is alternate reality a really real alternative to what is
really real?
And here a conspiracy,
there a conspiracy,
everywhere a conspiracy,
E-I-E-I-O,
a regular funny farm
our culture is,
a regular loony land
of a land,
God help us.
And I mean it, O Lord: we need your help!
Because
we seem
helpless
to do anything about what is
destroying us.
Everyone
has their own
beliefs,
truth,
reality,
information,
facts,
making conversation impossible,
conversation become
conversion
(Repent, friend, of those opinions opined and
accept my opinions and be
saved
from the wrath to come
if you keep disagreeing with me);
and calm discussion
become angry declaration
(Hey, it’s kind of nice – no need to listen to the other);
and so,
cooperation, compromise, coming together
not possible;
gotten so bad
that the smart thing to do is say “Uh-huh” and then
change the subject, or better,
avoid the subject altogether, or even better,
avoid the person altogether.
And by the way, Lord,
Christians are some of the worst
(Not telling you anything new, I bet),
making their thoughts into your thoughts,
the Gospel truth now the politician’s truth,
cable news become Scripture.
O Lord, what’s going on with people?
What’s going on with us?
Are people,
are we,
that angry,
that fearful,
that resentful;
do they, we, have
so many grievances,
so many beefs,
feel so put upon,
that they, we,
give more power to political beliefs than religious beliefs,
trust only those who think like we do,
listen only to those who say what
we want to hear,
suspect anyone who differs from us,
no longer value wisdom,
reason, common sense?
If this is us,
even in some small way,
forgive us!
Help us
to return to you, to
your truth,
your word,
your way.
Help us
to allow the Spirit
to have a shot at us,
to make us see what we’re doing to ourselves,
our families,
our friendships,
our communities,
our country;
to grace us
with courage enough
to trust again, think for ourselves again, respect others again;
to lead us to
deeper faith,
better belief,
greater love,
so that we have no doubt as to what is
real and
true and
right.
Help us
to let go of
the angers and fears, the resentments and grievances
and bitternesses
that have turned us from you,
turned us over to
all that is undoing us,
and to turn back
to you
and start following again the truth and reality
we know we should.
O Lord, we give you thanks that more and more are
being vaccinated,
yet give us strength and sense enough
not to jump the gun and act as if
there’s nothing to worry about now
but to keep doing smart and safe.
And let us not weary
of praying that you would
heal and comfort and sustain and assist and lift
all those devastated by the coronavirus.
O Lord, in this funny farm culture of ours in which
fact is not fact,
truth is not truth,
reality is not reality,
help us
to never give up or give in,
but give ourselves to you,
and be informed
day after day
with your love and mercy,
our sanity and
our hope.
Amen.