A Concord Pastor Comments: NIGHT PRAYER: Monday 6/15

The sameness, Lord...
that's what gets to me at each day's end:
the sameness...

Oh, some of the numbers change,
some for better, some for worse,
but the numbers themselves:
test counts, bed counts death counts
- they all remain a part of each same day...

There's the sameness of headlines, the same stories;
the same opinions, the same sides - all the same -
just more firmly, deeply entrenched
than a week or a month or a year ago...

And our crimes and unjust deeds, Lord:
in so many ways, in too many ways
the same as they've been for hundreds of years,
still the same, little change, still the same...

And, Lord:
the sameness of boredom, of loneliness,
of waiting and waiting and waiting - for what?

Waiting for something different, something new,
something refreshing to capture our imagination,
to ignite our hopes and our dreams anew!

Waiting for something to change, Lord,
we're waiting for something to change...

So, tonight I pray for change:
change in the daily and weekly news;
change in the course of this awful pandemic;
change in how we live with and love one another;
change in how we care for others,
especially those who've suffered the damage
of our prejudice and disrespect,
of our privileged carelessness with human lives...

Most of all, Lord,
I pray tonight for change in me:
make clear what needs to be changed in my life,
in my thinking, in my relationships, in my attitudes,
in my deeds, in my heart and in my prayer...

May the winds of change fan into flame your fiery Spirit
around us, among and within us
- and deep within me, Lord,
deep within me...

The repetition, Lord,
the dull and everyday sameness
cries out for your intervention!
Shake us!
Disturb us!
Stir us up!
Change us!
Recreate us, Lord!

Make us over in your image
'til once again we see in one another
your face and your eyes, Lord,
'til we hear in our hearts your voice,
calling us to become what you fashioned us to be:
your people, your beloved, your own,
ever changing, ever growing
in your love and in your grace...

Protect us now as we lie awake
and watch over us as we sleep:
awake or asleep, just change us, Lord,
as you will and as you may...

Amen.
MMMMM
Change My Heart, O God by Roby Duke

Change my heart, O God, make it ever true.
Change my heart, O God, may I be like you.

You are the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me, this is what I pray.

Change my heart, O God, make it ever true.
Change my heart, O God, may I be like you.
MMMMMM