Advent words of Sonja Ingebritsen of Carbondale, Illinois, originally written as a liturgical piece, a call to worship and offered here as a prayer.
You come to us with womb-wrinkled skin and thirsty, searching lips,
and we offer to you our own vulnerability.
You come to us on a bed of straw where sheep have lain and cows have fed,
and we offer to you our own humility,
You come to us with loving purpose in your bones and justice on your breath,
and we offer to you our own wills.
Blessed Baby, Compelling Prophet; you come to us again in this moment, and in every moment without end,
and in thanks and praise, we offer the whole of our lives to you. Amen
Those of us in the United States ask prayers of others on this remembrance of the Newtown Connecticut school shootings last year. Recently there was a school shooting in Arapahoe, Colorado. As many as 10,000 have died from guns in this country in the year between. Our children are vulnerable and yet no one in power hears Isaiah’s cry to beat our guns into mental health care.
Please pray for us ….
We refuse to be consoled, O God,
because they are no more.
Warn us in our dreams and wakings
to gather all holy children
and make for them a place of safety. Amen
