NIGHT PRAYER: Saturday 11/15

I've been thinking about this, Lord:

 

And I've been thinking about those words

    not so much in their broad social and political sense

but in the personal and individual terms

    of my own life and circumstances...

 

I like to imagine myself 

    as one who doesn't discriminate, Lord,

        someone who doesn't judge rashly

but if I'm honest with myself

    I need to ask you to forgive and heal,    

any self-interested prejudice 

    in my thoughts and affections...

 

I pray you'll curb and eradicate 

    my subtly biased outlook on things;

    my unwarranted assumptions,

    my knee-jerk partisanship,       

    my unfounded preconceptions, 

    my purely subjective judgments,

    my unstudied stances and opinions,

    my nearsighted observations,

    my stubborn  favoritism,

    my ingrained dispositions,

    and my prideful self-assessment...

 

Send me the grace of your Holy Spirit, Lord:

    to open my mind to your infinite wisdom,

    to fill my heart with a love for your word,     

    to inform and counsel my thoughts and opinions,

    to clarify things I don't understand,

    to help me listen with an open mind,

    to teach me to see as you see, Lord

        and help me discern the real from the sham;

    to study what others profess and believe

        and to learn to respect what they think and say;     

    to humbly accept critique and correction,    

    to thirst for what's genuine, sure and authentic

    and to bend my knee, my mind and my will

        to reverence the truth when I meet it...

 

Lord, I like to imagine myself 

    as one who doesn't discriminate

        or quickly judge others

but if I'm honest with myself

    I pray you'll forgive and heal,  

        curb and eradicate

all that keeps me 

    from knowing and loving my neighbor 

and all that keeps us

    from living as one... 

 

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.

Help us Accept Each Other

    by Fred Kaan and Doreen Potter 

 

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