Feb. 3 — Prayer for the week

In this brief moment

in this short day

on this small parcel of land

on but a tiny planet in a vast array of galaxies,

we praise you, Creator of heaven and earth

who separated light from darkness

and fixed the paths of the stars.

Who are we that you are mindful of us—each of us—

young and old, rich and poor, wise and foolish?

Who are we that you should care one way or the other

about each of us in a sea of faces—

brown, black, red, yellow, pale, grey, and white?

And yet you know each one of us by name—

Alice, Hector, Lucia, Gaspard, Alexandra, Yoshi, Ying Ran.

You even know the number of hairs on our heads,

and when every sparrow falls.

That you are great, God, we praise you;

but that you are also close and small,

ah, for this miracle, we praise you and give you thanks

all the more.

We pray especially for all the small places in the world

where we need hope, courage, faith, insight, and comfort—

For the citizens of Timbuktu who now must rebuild

an ancient city and individual lives devastated

by gang warfare parading under the banner of religion.

For the people of Egypt, who desperately need justice,

stability, and reasoned political discourse.

For the people of Syria, who simply need peace.

In our country,

we pray for practical steps toward the reduction of gun violence

and for a just and compassionate resolution to our nation’s

longstanding conflict over immigration.

In our state,

we pray for thoughtful, humble, and civil discourse about resolving

the ongoing conflict over how to build a healthy economy without selling off

our environmental future or the well-being of our children and grand-children.

And for those in our church that we have lifted up

and those in our hearts who are known only to you

we pray.

Amen.

— written by J. Stephen Rhodes