Psalm 55:1-2

“Hear my prayer, O God;

don’t turn away form my plea!

Listen to me and answer me;

I am worn out by my worries.”

“There must be a time when the man of prayer goes to pray as if it were the first time in his life he had ever prayed; when the man of resolutions puts his resolutions aside as if they had all been broken, and he learns a different wisdom: distinguishing the sun from the moon, the stars from the darkness, the sea from the dry land, and the night sky from the shoulder of a hill.” - From No Man is an Island. Thomas Merton.


As we bring our hearts in prayer this week may we pray to set aside, even for the briefest of moments, all our broken promises and unfulfilled hopes and paralyzing fears, offering our pleas before the Lord as if for the first time. May we come with no reserves or strengths, no judgments of ourselves, our families, our neighbors or our God. Let our hearts seek, unburdened in this place, the wisdom of creation which discerns the truth of the world in which we live. And in that seeking may our hearts find that wisdom which sees more clearly the truth of those we love, of our friends and neighbors, of our selves and of our God. Amen.