NIGHT PRAYER: Tuesday 10/6

Lord, these words from Sunday's scripture keep coming back to me:

    Think about what is pure...

 

In my homily, I spoke of pure as all that's

        natural, authentic and innocent;

        clear, lucid and simple;

        without guile, genuine and godly... 

 

We need what's pure so much these days, Lord;

    - we're barraged with the fabricated and synthesized,

        with the sham, the counterfeit and the insincere

    - we're awash in what's shadowy, ambiguous and vague,

        what's murky, complex and devised

    - we're misled by what's false, profane and irreverent,

        by what's artful, deceitful and cunning...

 

So much around us is little more than pretense, postured and posed,

    while we hunger for the real thing, Lord, given as created:

     unvarnished, unaffected, unadorned and undisguised...

 

Saint Paul wrote:

    Think about what is pure, what is lovely, what is gracious,

    if there is anything of excellence, anything worthy of praise,

        think about these things... 

 

Help us not only think about these things, Lord,

but also to desire them, become them, 

treasure and preserve them and

demand them of one another,

as we work to build a community, a church, a nation

where our life in common is founded in and marked by

what is true, what is honorable, what is just...

Help us, Lord, 

for left to our own devices we inevitably fail

and we cannot afford to fail again...

 

Purify us, Lord,

that you, the God of peace,

be with us...

 

Protect us, Lord, while we're awake

and watch over us as we sleep

that awake, we might keep watch with you

and asleep rest in your peace...

 

Amen.

 

(Those already pure of heart need not listen to this song -

all others, join me in turning up the volume!) 

 

Purify My Heart (Refiner's Fire) by Brian Doerksen

 

 

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