Friday, September 29, 2006

God Yearns

Prayer of Love:

Creator God,
You made the world and called it good. Help me to remember that in your eyes I am good. Help me to see the goodness in myself, to love myself just as you love me. I pledge my love to you, a fitting response to the boundless love you heap upon me. Amen

Reading: Walter Brueggmann, “The God who yearns and waits for us”

We are strange conundrums of faithfulness and fickleness.
We cleave to you in all the ways that we are able.
We count on you and intend our lives to be lived for you,
and then we find ourselves among your people
who are always seeking elsewhere and otherwise.
So we give thanks that you are the God
Who yearns and waits for us,
and that our connection to you is always from your side,
and that it is because of your goodness
that neither life nor death
nor angels nor principalities
nor heights nor depths
nor anything in creation
can separate us from you.
We give you thanks for your faithfulness,
so much more durable than ours. Amen.

Meditation:

More often than one would expect, I find myself in conversation with someone who thinks that he or she is not doing as good a job at being a Christian as he or she could be. The person usually believes that his knowledge of the Bible isn’t sufficient, or that she could be doing more for the world, or that, God forbid, he sometimes has doubts about God.

The most honest response is probably “you’re right on all counts.” We could all know the Bible better; we could all be doing more for the world, and we all--at least those of us whose faith is mature enough to allow it--have doubts. It is probably fair to say that God desires more from each of us. God desires the best from us, and knows we have it in us.

It is more than fair to say—in fact it is the plain truth—that these moments are actually part of the work of a Christian. We are called to strive to do better. We are called to yearn for God, and to yearn to do God’s will, just as God yearns for us, and draws us toward the divine will.

And the rest of the truth is that God loves us to pieces, even when we fail miserably--which is seldom the case, though we often think it is. God is nuts about us, and rather pleased with us, for we were, after all, made in God’s image.

Prayer of Thanksgiving:

God of all grace and mercy,
You yearn for me even when I am far from you. You love me even when I fail to do your will. You are always there to help me improve, to set me back on the path of righteousness. Thank you for that. Amen

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