"pry us off dead center" by ted loder

O persistent God

Deliver us from assuming your mercy is gentle.

Pressure us that we may grow more human, not through the lessening of our struggles, but through an expansion of them, that will undamn us and unbury our gifts.

Deepen our hurt, until we learn to share it, and ourselves, openly, and our needs honestly.

Sharpen our fears until we name them, and release the power we have locked in them and they in us.

Accentuate our confusion, until we shed those grandiose expectations that divert us from the small, glad gifts of the now, and the here, and the us.

Expose our shame where it shivers, crouched behind the curtains of propriety, until we can laugh at last, laugh our way toward becoming whole.

Deliver us from just going through the motions and wasting everything we have, which is today,

a chance

a choice

our creativity, your call.

O persistent God, let how much it all matters pry us off dead center, so if we are moved inside to tears

or sighs

or screams

or smiles

or dreams,

they will be real

and we will be in touch with who we are

and who you are

and who our sisters and brothers are. Amen.




(i adapted personal prayer for communal use, read in two parts.)