SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER

We make a pause
   amid many voices---
      some innocent and some seductive,
      some violent and some coercive,
      some forgiven and genuine,
      some not.

Amid this cacophony that pulls us
       in many directions,
   we have these old voices of your prophets;
   these voices attest to
       your fierce self,
       your severe summons,
       your generous promise,
       your abiding presence.

Give us good ears,
    perchance you have a word for us tonight;
Give us grace and courage to listen,
                                            to answer,
                                            to care,
                                            and to rejoice,
       that we may be more fully your people.

Walter Brueggemann