A Prayer for Openness

The following is a prayer based on Ted Loder's, "Gentle Us Open," from his book, My Heart in My Mouth.

Lord of life and light,
Help us not to fall in love with the darkness that separates us from you
And from each other.
But to watch with wide yes, open hands and eager minds for your Word.
Let us dream and hunger and pray for the light of you and the life
for each other.

Lord, in the midst of our white-knuckled busyness in this season,
We realize deep within us that your gifts of mercy and light, peace and joy,
grace upon grace, can only be received if we are open and receptive.

So this is our prayer, Lord. Open us. Pry us open any way you can. Shock, beguile, knock, amaze, squeeze any way you can open us.

Open us to see your glory in the coming again of the light of each day,
The light in children's eyes and lovers' smiles, the light of truth wherever
it is spoken and done.

Open us to the songs of angels in the rushing traffic, the rustle
of shoppers, in the hum of hope and the longing within each of us,
In the cries of our brothers and sisters for justice and peace, and in
our own souls' march toward goodness.

Open us to share the gifts you have given us, and to the deep yearning to
share them gladly and boldly. Open us to initiate the exchange of
forgiveness, to risk a new beginning free of past grievances, and to find
the gifts of a larger love and deeper peace,

Open us, Lord, to the miracles of the ordinary,
To the heart-pounding wonder of birth,
To a mother's fierce love and a father's tender guidance.
Open us so that we may born anew in the fullness of your image,
The fullness of a just and joyful human community,
The fullness of your kingdom,
In the fullness of time.

Amen.