This past Sunday we reflected on the familiar words of the Lord’s Prayer and the ways in which this prayer is so meaningful for our personal and corporate spiritual life. As we thought about the words we use to speak this prayer, I shared a poem from John Leax, poet-in-residence at Houghton College. His poem is sort of a re-envisioned version of the Lord’s Prayer (at least it seems so to me; I’m not sure if that was what he had in mind when he wrote it). I share this poem with you here and encourage you to make it your prayer this week, especially as we step into a week with more violence and mean-spiritedness and death and protest claiming our media attention. Meditate on the words and images of this poem. Listen to the ways in which it opens your spirit to new understandings of God and yourself. Notice the ways in which it opens your eyes to see the world around you in new and different ways.

A prayer for order

Father of all creatures,
whose dwelling extends beyond this world,
let no one trivialize your being.
Let your order prevail.
Let your intentions come to be
for creation and for yourself.
Give us, each day, no more than we need,
and forgive us when we take for ourselves
the well being of others,
as we forgive others who seek to take ours.
Lead us away from our dreams of power
that we might be whole,
satisfied in you.