September 29, 2021
I Can’t Tell You How Many People: A Prayer
O Lord, I can’t tell you how many people
have said to me lately:
“I just don’t understand.”
Some saying it
because they
just don’t understand
why people won’t
get vaccinated and
help
bring an end to the virus still threatening;
others saying it
because they
just don’t understand
why people are so angry,
raging on the road,
exploding in the checkout line,
blowing up at perfect strangers,
little things setting them off,
everything setting them off,
nothing setting them off,
always angry;
still others saying it
because they
just don’t understand
why people are so rude,
have so little respect,
attitude non-stop;
many saying it
because they
just don’t understand
the violence,
people shooting one another,
parents going at it over masks,
police policing, detectors detecting, gun dogs gunning
for guns
while
scared shoppers shop;
nearly everyone
saying it
because they
just don’t understand
how we ended up
where we are today,
how we unite
to fight off a foreign threat,
how we divide
when the threat
comes from within
our own land,
uniting only
in little groups
to attack the other,
each other the enemy,
at war with ourselves;
almost everyone
saying it
because they
just don’t understand
people
anymore.
And there are days, O Lord, days when I wonder if
you don’t say the same thing,
say that you
just don’t understand,
just don’t understand us,
because
we still
just don’t understand
that we
just don’t need to understand,
understand others,
need only to
understand you,
understand your will,
understand that
we are to be and do
what you call us to be and do
no matter
what anyone else
is or does;
understand that
we are to act
for the sake of others,
not just
our own sakes;
understand that
we are to let go of
our angers and resentments
and be
gracious and grateful;
understand that
we are to stop
giving attitude
and start
giving ourselves in
kindness and
respect;
understand that
we are to stop
finding violence entertaining
and start
finding peace more exciting;
understand that
we are to
unite
for the sake of defeating
what threatens,
not divide,
defeating
hope.
O Lord, we may say that we just don’t understand
people
anymore,
but
we pray that we do understand the
people we should be, people who
live the truth,
do the right thing,
act with kindness,
understand that we can
because again and again,
during and after 9-11,
during and after storm after storm,
during and after fire and flood
we have discovered
the courage we possess,
the self-sacrifice we are capable of,
the compassion we have,
the neighbor we can be,
the people we truly are.
Grace us, Lord,
with the faith, the strength, the resolve we need
to be
such people
no matter what
other people
are.
O Lord, when illness strikes or death claims those we love,
or it’s just one thing after another,
or disaster overwhelms,
or despair engulfs,
people, we ourselves,
can find it
hard to understand.
Be there in the midst of it all healing and comforting and
supporting and strengthening and lifting up,
so that the one thing
that is understood
is that we, all of us,
are loved.
O Lord, when it comes to what is going on today, we
just don’t understand.
Give us
the faith
to live
without answers,
and instead
work on being
your answer
to what we
just don’t understand.
Amen.