NIGHT PRAYER: Wednesday 10/26

They're tearing down the house I grew up in, Lord!

We moved here on my first birthday

and I played out my childhood 

right on this block, just down the street 

near the corner of Hobart and Maple...

 

A wee, small house it was, Lord

(an architectural afterthought)

tucked in between two much larger homes

and thus its offbeat address:  

    9½ Hobart,  Danvers, MA...

The block's being cleared for a

    residential, mixed use development 

and while I've no desire to hold back the future

I can't help but wonder if what's being planned

    can offer what I found at 9½...

 

It's big and it's bold but can it provide

    front steps to sit on come summer nights;

    a backyard for playing hide-and-go-seek

        and running and catching fireflies;

    a two minute walk to the Corner Store

        or a tuna sub from Betty Ann's;

    and plenty of room for making friends;

        for falling down and getting up;

    for moments of joy and times of hurt;

        for growing pains and growing up;

    for having a world where all was safe,

        where all of us cared for our neighbors

            and our neighbors all cared for us...

 

It was the first place I remember, Lord,

    the home I'll never forget;

though they tear it down, they'll not dismantle

    its roof over all my memories,

    its windows into my soul,

    the warmth of its coal-fed furnace,

    the love of my family sheltered and safe

        in the rooms of this wee, small house...

And besides all this, I've another home, Lord,

    a dwelling I've not yet seen:

a home that you've been preparing for me

    since before I was even conceived...

 

There's a place in your heart, in your Father's house,

    where I pray we'll all meet again 

when it's finally time to "come home," Lord,

    to the place where all peace dwells...

In that little house on Hobart Street

I first learned of you and your love:

    may I meet those who taught me

        and sheltered my faith

    when you call us home to you, O Lord,

        when we're all at home once again...

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake

and watch over me while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

and asleep, rest in your peace...

 

Amen.

 

Heaven Is My Home   

   by Chris Griffin, Nicole McLean, Daniel Patti, Becca Patti

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