Progressive Christian Reflections by Chris Glaser: 3 Prayers for Lent

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I
lack a specific courage :

to
threat abandoning all my closets

to
fulfill life’s dreams,

providing
up securities, pretensions,

presumptions,
indulgences,

fears—especially
fears—

to
be all you claim I am,

to
be all you contact me to be,

to
be all you hope for me.

I
dawdle at the beginning line,

telling
myself I’ll start tomorrow.

Or,
component way by way of the race,

I
determine, I deserve a break nowadays,

and
obtain it challenging to limit that break

to
time sufficient to rest and restore myself

Jesus
fought the fantastic fight,

and
kept faith with his dreams

Why
do you give me this model, God?

It is
like comparing my physique to Olympic athletes,

or
my ministry to Mother Teresa’s,

or
my sacrifice to martyred saints in Central America!

I
can not give it all, can I, Lord?

I
can not sacrifice all for the commonwealth of God, can I?

“Seek
1st God’s kingdom…,

and
all these items shall be yours as effectively.”

Did
you have all you necessary

as
you gave anything to finish the race?

It is
so effortless to say prayers, God,

so
challenging to translate ours words to actions.

Your
Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.

in
component simply because we have been so damned jealous

that
he did one thing we couldn’t :

he
lived out his prayer life.

When
he prayed “Thy kingdom come”

by
generating his throne a cross

simply because
we believed he mocked us,

generating
it look so effortless to be your young children, God.

Although
tempted as we are,

he,
in prayer and fasting,

refused
to tempt your appreciate,

forgive
me for not waiting,

forgive
me for tempting you,

forgive
my worship of idols.

Teach
me to listen for your word,

and
worship in spirit and in truth.

Remind
me that Jesus is not an only youngster,

nor
your kingdom’s only citizen.

May well
I reside up to my inheritance as your youngster

and
as a citizen of your commonwealth,

by way of
Jesus Christ, who leads my way.

Dear
Jesus,

from time to time
we anticipate also a lot sanctuary

a
warm, retreat expertise,

ecclesiastical
or societal,

But
the kingdom of heaven lay beyond

your
forty-day prayer retreat in the wilderness, Jesus.

The
commonwealth of God lay inside

your
interactions with the globe that followed.

The
commonwealth you preached, Jesus,

as
healing happens amongst us.

as
you, the Christ, are in the globe,

either
by calcified doctrines

You
taught that for us to pray,

for
us to obtain healing for ourselves,

“Faith
with no functions is dead.”

Faith
with no operate is death.

Retain
me from resting in peace,

a
self-happy smile on my face,

even though
other individuals hunger for my touch

as
a member of your Physique,

These
are prayers Day 20, Day 41, and Day 46 from my book Coming Out to God: Prayers for Lesbians and Gay Males, Their Households and Close friends, published by Westminster/John Knox Press in 1991. Every single prayer was
broken into phrases not out of poetic pretensions but to slow the reader. I
typically refer to God’s “kingdom” as a “commonwealth” in which anything is
shared, such as our popular spiritual wealth. The only adjust I’ve produced is
substituting “Olympic athletes” in the 1st prayer for the name of a
effectively-identified physique builder of the time, and this, contrasted with the reference to
Mother Teresa, demonstrates the longevity of compassion more than other accomplishments.
The second prayer’s mention of suffocation refers to how victims of crucifixion
die: their bodies ultimately sag from exhaustion and reduce off the flow of air to
the lungs. The final lines of the second prayer’s 1st section refer to Jesus’
3 temptations in the wilderness (Matthew four:1-11). The photo is a shadow on our deck I noticed days ago for the duration of my morning prayers.

As
with all of my writings, you are welcome to use these for non-profit purposes with
attribution of author and context.

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