Three Petitions

Lift Us Up

In stillness of borrowed breath,
among aromatic cedar,
you make us your offspring.

Yet at midnight,
under the Bethlehem star,
on the tip of your scepter,
we are staggered by your power,
but not destroyed.

You bless those who bless us,
curse those who curse.

You bring us to our knees
in painful reminders of mortality.

You hear our penitent prayers,
collect our anguished tears.

In mercy, the grace
of your unfailing love.
lift us up to walk with you
again.


Last Wild Storm

Gripping desperately, as if your hand,
in this last wild storm of the world,
torn by a wind, the beating
of raptor’s wings in a tornado
of silent screaming terror,

I see swirling about me
the detritus of fear
that leads to the hanging tree,
dragging friends and family,
a fear that encloses dumbly in a tomb.

Who bites the hand of love
who pulls down his house
upon his head,
striking out, accusing falsely,
spitting curses on love’s flame,
unravels in the vortex
of panic’s fell syllables
lets slip the talisman of trust.

You have spoken,
I believe.

Grip strong my reaching hand
of faltering faith, O shining One,
from above this wild storm!

The Answer

To the one who prayed,
whose tears fell,
whose small bag is packed,
who may need to answer a call
from another realm
at a moment’s notice,
from sound asleep,
to carry or be carried.

I am your Shepherd,
you shall lack no good thing,
all your sins I freely forgive,

I will always be with you
from this new journey,
even to the end of the age.

I will comfort and support you,
lead you beside still waters,
feed you in green pastures,

you shall fear no evil,
though you walk through dark valleys
shadowed with death,
for I am with you,
I will never forsake you,
I will bring you,
and you shall dwell
in my house forever.