A Concord Pastor Comments: Pause for Prayer: SUNDAY 7/2

Photo by Mark Penta

This morning's prayer is one I wrote 7 years ago

and it remains one of my favorites - along with

the beautiful image from the eye of Mark Penta.

Help me a find a place to meet you, Lord:

a shady place, a grove of grace,

where you and I might meet and sit

together in the silence, in the shade,

away from all the noise that fills my soul...

Help me find a summer refuge

at the shore or in the fields

- or up atop some mountain:
a grotto of your presence, Lord,

a haven where I'll find with you

the peace my heart desires...

This summer, Lord,

help me find a place to meet you

down the road or out of town

or even right at home:

a place where you and I might meet

and sit together in the silence,

in the shade, in the quiet,

in the prayer that makes us one...

Amen.

• You needn't travel far to find a summer place to meet the Lord and spend some time with him in prayer: your back yard or local park will do; your porch, your deck or just your favorite chair, close by an open window. Wherever you are, he's with you; wherever you travel, he's by your side; wherever you go, he'll be there to meet you, whenever you arrive...

• I doubt that Leonard Bernstein envisioned this piece from West Side Story as an invitation to prayer, but I think it serves our purposes here rather nicely...