Praying with Truitt

Last night, Kara and I got to experience prayer time with Josh, Kayci, and Truitt Ross. Truitt is 21 months old. The biggest blue eyes one face can hold. He's not going to be a heartbreaker. He is a heartbreaker.

Before Truitt's bedtime last night, Kayci and Josh gathered Truitt next to us for prayer time.

We all bowed our heads. Josh led the prayer.

"God thank your for this day. Help us sleep in your arms tonight. Help us to live missionally and incarnationally this week."

So, if Truitt doesn't become the starting strong safety for the Dallas Cowboys in twenty-five years (as his dad would have) . . . he's going to be the only kid in seminary who can say he knew the words mission and incarnation before he could ride his bike.

Home

Ever since I had Walter Brueggemann as a professor this past year, I've taken seriously the power of carefully worded prayers. Of course, there are all kinds of ways to pray (some helpful some not-so-much). Here's the prayer I wrote for yesterday's gathering time at Rochester Church in preparation for experiencing Genesis 32 (Jacob's Prayer).

God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

Lord of Exile, Lord of Exodus

We plot, scheme, squirm and plan,

How we might do life without you.

We are all, at one time or another, scoundrels.

And just when we think we’ve got things under control,

Our lives break into a million little pieces.

Dreams dash. Hopes halt. Visions vanish.

And we are left standing before you,

Aware of our utter incompetence.

When we have no where else to turn and no one else to turn to,

We come to the place we should have come all along.

We come home, in prayer, with our hands open.

We come home to you.

Amen.

This prayer, from Reinhold Niebuhr, is changing my life. Pray it every day. When you wake up. When you go to bed. When you are making dinner. On your lunch break. In the car. Pray it as often as you can. Pray it slowly. Pray it when you run. Pray it when you are at wit's end. This is what I'll be praying in 2009. Those AA folks know what they are doing and they have a thing or ten to teach Christians and spiritual seekers alike.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

Senate Prayer

Please join me in prayer . . .

We acknowledge God as Creator and Sustainer of this world.
You have charged us to be good stewards of your creation and your children.
We confess our fragility in this project for we sometimes fall short of this vision.

At times, we vote out of fear.
At times, we don’t tell the truth because the truth won’t get us what we want.
At times, we spin reality, hoping our creative tales will buy us one more day.

Hear our confession today.

Republican, Democrat and Libertarian—we pray to the same God, read from the same holy texts, and attempt to interpret the same constitution. Yet, our understandings of You, our implementation of holy texts and our convictions regarding the constitution are varying, often at odds.

We pray you would comfort those who are broken, distressed, and without hope.

We ask that you give those of us who have been blessed the courage to live our lives as a blessings to everyone around us.

Help us to take our jobs seriously, knowing that work is a gift from You.
Help us not to take ourselves too seriously, lest we think our passions and beliefs are the most important.

As we work today, remind us that “the future belongs to the creatively maladjusted.”
As we work today, remind us that we are all caught up in “an inescapable mutuality.”
As we work today, remind us that there is no greater love than that which compels one human to lay down their life for another.

You created us from dust, and to dust we shall return. That you have breathed life into all of us is something we cannot ever fully comprehend.

This knowledge dares us to live a life worth believing in.

Amen.

Malibu

I've spent time in Malibu the last two years at the Pepperdine Lectureships. My time at Pepperdine University has been a time of refreshment, encouragement, and sabbath.

Tonight, I'm praying for those people being ravaged and undone by the fires sweeping from L.A. to San Diego.

This is a photo one student took from Pepperdine.

My friend, James Wiser has been blogging about the unfolding events. James works at Pepperdine.

Pray for Malibu. Pray for Pepperdine. Pray for mercy.