Bring Us Back

You are our rock, our refuge

We profess this to be true
yet will still often question where you are
when we can find no solid footing
when we are beaten by the storms

We know you as rock and refuge from times past
but in these present times when we cannot find you
we wonder if it’s still true…
Are you our rock, our refuge?

We find the answer when we find you again
waiting for us
patient as a rock
a sturdy shelter against the storm

And furthermore
we find that we only lost our footing
when we walked away from you
we find that we were lost in the storm
only because we left your protection

So God, be our rock and refuge
and when we have lost you
and need you most
bring us back.

You, Oh Lord, are our rock, our refuge.

We Resolve

We make resolutions
we make plans
we make promises
but then life gets hard again

So we make mistakes
we make adjustments
and we make excuses

Forgive us God
for our botched resolutions
for our adjusted plans
for our broken promises

Give us the strength to change as you would have us
Moreover, break all our resolutions, plans and promises
that do not have you at the center

We know that you will keep all your promises
so we try to keep ours
Bless our attempts
Forgive our failures

We resolve, again, to be yours.

God of Power, Lord of Weakness

God of power
who set the foundations of the earth
who lays the mountains low
who causes the earth to tremble

We are fearful of your power
but even worse
we are envious of your power
and we even think that if we had such power
we could use it better than you

Lord of weakness
who spoke peace into violence
who served against domination
who died to give life

We are fearful of your weakness
but even worse
we want nothing to do with such weakness
and we even think that, given the choice
we’d rather have the power

God of power, Lord of weakness
forgive our attempts to usurp your power
forgive our refulsals to be weak
display your power, as you do best,
through our weakness

We are weak
help us to accept that
and, in turn, to accept your power

We Are Good at Asking

We are good at asking
especially for things we think we need
for things that help us
for things that make our ideas of you a little more believable

We may even be good at asking
what you would have us do
who you would have us be
where you would have us go

But God, we are poor listeners

As a result
we too often hear our own voices of self affirmation
and mistake them for your guidance
we too often hear the answer we
already knew you would give
we too often speak in your silence
and move against your stillness

We hear your words “Ask and you will recieve”
And we are conflicted

So, with candor, we continue asking
but we ask chiefly, God,
that you make us listeners
so we may know what to ask for

We ask…and we listen.

Look to the Sky

“Your faithfulness stretches to the sky”
We hear those words
and mostly we believe them
Because we have heard stories of your faithfulness
stories of freedom from oppression
of providence in the wilderness
of deliverance from evil

We hear these stories
we look to the sky
and we are comforted

But then…
there are the times when we search the skies for signs of your faithfulness
and see only storm clouds…
and our oppressors return
and we find ourselves lost in the wilderness again
and evil threatens to overtake us

But then we remember the stories
and we know that the storm will pass
and we will find your faithfulness yet again stretched to the sky

So God, we have read the stories
and we ask that you, true to your faithful self
free us
lead us
deliver us

And we know that you will.

We Are Confident

Confident, God, we are confident
of who you are
of what you expect of us
of our standing before you

But then
you move, and our confidence is shattered
you speak, and our boasting is silenced
and we are confronted by your apparent dislike for our confidence

We realize too late
that our confidence is misplaced
for we are not confident in you
but only in our conception of you

So God
may our hearts be broken
may our spirits be contrite
and may we always be confident
in you
for you
because of you

We are confident of one thing…
we are yours.

The Turn of the Year

As one year ends and another begins
We cannot help but be reminded of your faithfulness
as we remember what you have done in years past
as we hope in what you will do in years to come

You are the one who makes all things new
we are the ones who still cling to our ‘old-ness’
despite the newness you offer

So Lord, at this, the turn of the year
come, and make us new
so that we may proclaim your newness
to those sick and tired of the old

We cannot give to you our years passed
but we can, and do, give all those yet to come
to you alone

Please take all our years
and make them yours
even as you make us yours.