Wednesday, January 8, 2020

A PRAYER: "On a Day of Fasting"

During the Season of Epiphany, I'll be fasting (water only) one day every week, beginning at sundown Wednesday and concluding at sundown Thursday.  My fast seeks solidarity with friends in the United Church of Christ and many others around the world living daily in the shadows of war and violence.

Christ of the River, Christ of the Jordan, Christ of the Sea:
Strip me of all excuses, all privilege and reasonableness.
Take my hand and lead me deep, into love's commandment:
Beyond the boundary between sacred and profane, 
Beyond the boundary between blessed and cursed.
Beyond the boundary between faithful and safe.

Wash every one of my prayers, every one of my hours,
Wash every hair on my head and fold in my skin, a mikvah:
That I might stand with you today, and with every child
Broken by sanctions and war, burned by drones and bombs.
Let the river reach deep into my soul, and renew me for this.
Let me clothe myself only in love, only grace, only You.

By Your irrepressible mercy, turn the hearts of the cruel to joy.
By Your fierce kindness, turn the gaze of our leaders to justice.
Restrain our meanness, heal our lust and greed,
And make us mindful of the little ones, of the poor ones,
For theirs is the future, and the feast, forever. 

Amen.

A Prayer: 1/8/20 (DGJ)
Epiphany Fast 1