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PRAY NOW: TODAY'S PRAYER
Vulnerable Relationships - Job's comforters
Then Job answered: "I have heard many such things; miserable comforters
are you all. Shall windy words have an end? Or what provokes you that you
answer? I also could speak as you do, if you were in my place; I could join
words together against you, and shake my head at you ... If I speak, my pain is
not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?"
Prayer
Her reality challenges my faith
Because it will not fit it
Neatly.
His universe, where he must live,
Challenges my faith
Because it is bigger than my cosy little God.
Your pain challenges my faith
Because it is deeper than my consolations can reach.
So I turn from encounter to exhortation,
And I exhort only - and desperately -
Myself. I comfort - only myself ...
If only I could listen, and forgo my own comforting speech.
If only I could bear with all that must be told,
And just sit there and hear it.
O for a ragged faith,
Torn and slashed by reality,
Frayed from embracing things as they actually are,
And not understanding!
O for an angry faith,
That searches for God in what is, and not in what I wish were there.
O for an inconsolable faith
That will settle for nothing less than God.
O for a ruthlessly honest faith
That censors nothing for consolation's sake.
Bring me, bring us, to the point of true consolation
Where truth and faith coincide.
Readings
Job passim, but especially
chh. 4:1-7; 5:8-27; 7:16-21; 8; 9;
10; 11; 12:1-5; 42:7-9, 42:10.
Psalm 22
Psalm 137
Luke 22:40-6
Mark 15:33-40
John 20:24-5 only
1 Corinthians 1:17-25
Prayer activity
Visualize someone you know quite well. It could be someone
who is going through a hard time at the moment, but needn't
be. In the imagination of prayer, just 'sit with them',
and listen to them. Although
they aren't there 'in the flesh', see if attending
to them doesn't lead you to understand what you
already know in a different, and deeper way. Don't interpose
any of your own thoughts, or your ideas about what things
are like for them. Just consider carefully what
comes from them. then try opening up to God, who
sits with you and listens to you, and attends to you.
Don't censor anything. Tell God how you feel.
Prayer for the Church
Those in my own congregation, assisting it to be part
of the living witnessing Body of Christ in the world.
Blessing
Goodness and mercy,
Light and life,
Comfort and joy
Be yours through Christ our lord.
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