MONDAY MORNING PRAYER-PRAISE IN THE GREAT CONGREGATION

We are bold, as your creatures, to praise you.
We praise you for the gift of life,
    and for the gift of new life in Easter.
We praise you for the mystery of creation,
    as we stand in awe alongside
       all your creatures---
           zebras,
           cabbages,
           sharks,
           all the birds in the air,
           all the fish in the sea,
           all the beasts of the field.
We praise you alongside all our human cousins
      of the single family of humanity:
           Hispanics and Koreans,
           homeboys and immigrants,
           our good friends, our fearful enemies.
We praise you with full throat and glad hearts.
We praise you on this glad day.

Around the edge of our doxology are other brothers and sisters
      with whom we stand in solidarity.
      So we name them for your attention:
           the war-wounded and amputees;
           the mothers whose sons are gone but not forgotten;
           the dying who lack health-care;
           the poor who eat less than we eat;
           the prisoners who have not had smart lawyers.

We look up to you in exuberance.
We look around at them and our praise is muted,
    because we wonder some about your mercy;
         we are not completely sure of your generosity.
    Our praise turns to plea:
        look upon us in our common need
            and give us life again.
        Give new life and we will recover
               our voice of praise.

Until then, we will watch with eager longing
    and voice muted, hopeful but with those in need;
    we pray toward you but are marked by hints of absence....
            and we wait.

Prayers for a Privileged People, Walter Brueggemann