Prayer for 2025

What do we want from prayer? As with anything intimate, we each find a way that meets the shape of who we are. For me, prayer is a way of entering into communion.

It’s a chance to encounter myself anew, in a landscape that is familiar but hopefully fresh as well. If I pause to let the static settle, my inner waters have time to recede and return. Beyond the things I think I want, a deeper longing reveals itself. The reflection in the mirror becomes clearer.

I’ve also come to learn that longing is not an urge that starts in me, a wishlist for personal enrichment. Longing is a feature of the universe, co-extensive and mutual. What my soul wants for me, the Soul of the World wants for all. I am an antennae tuning my singular pitch to a larger chorus. Giving voice to my longing, my inner communion pours out into a greater communion.

Prayer for 2025

Spirit, I invite you to me. Let me open to you and feel the
power of your presence. Find me. Hold me. Show me.
Place me in the flowing stream that is always here.

I offer this prayer to share my longings, inviting others to join in a
fellowship of longings, and by gathering, amplify our voices.

At times, I am troubled and confused. I see a world out of kilter and I
long to set it right. Help me to act where I can to mend the brokenness,
to not be paralyzed by the scale of suffering or complexity of problems.

At times, I am tired. Help me know when to rest and when to act,
that exhaustion serves no one, that self-care is the first compassion.

At times, I am lost. I pray for perspective. Let me remember there is a
longer view at play, things beyond the bend of the horizon I cannot see.
Miracles that today seem impossible, history will describe as inevitable.

At times, I am hopeful. I see people, networks, and nations helping
others, alleviating suffering, often at great risk. Let me take inspiration
from their goodness and their faith that tender acts accumulate.

At times, I feel alone. I pray to remember I am gathered with many
others who share my longings. Help me feel their love and support.

Welcome with me all into our fellowship: the troubled, the confused,
the tired, the lost, the hopeful, the lonely, and those with longings
felt but not yet named, turning away no one.

Grateful for the blessings of my life,
In service to the common good,
By the grace of all that is,

Amen

Photo by Jeremy Yap on Unsplash