Prayer of Gratitude and Longing

Gratitude and Longing

God of Justice and Love,
We pause a moment to call to mind that we are in your presence.
We pause to thank you for the many blessings you offer to us:
The sun,
The spring,
The smile and greeting of a neighbor,
The love of family and friends,
The community we are to one another.
We pause to remember that we live in a world which is not yet as you would have it Despite all our
advances of culture and technology.
We still place profit and gain before people and our environment.
We wage war on our sisters and brothers, whether it take the form of sanctions or suicide
bombings.
Men and women continue to live without the most basic necessities:
Shelter,
Food,
The opportunity to work,
The most basic of health care.
To live with eyes open is to see a world which groans under the burden of oppression.
And yet, we pause to remind ourselves that hope lives—that hope has always shined through the cracks
of our broken world
We pray that you grant us the grace to be ministers of this hope,
That we may shine in your service,
That we may be yeast to a world in need of lifting,
Agitation to a world which can rest too easy in false comfort,
Agents of empowerment to those who feel they have none.
We pray that our world will awake from blindness, ignorance, and apathy and reawaken with new
vision, compassion, and action.
We pray that we may be instruments to your will. That through our work the world may know you,
your power, and most importantly, your love.
Amen.

--by Jane Deren