Walking Prayer

 

Prayer

God of the seasons,
God of the years,
God of the eons,
    Alpha and Omega,
    before us and after us.
You promise and we wait:
                               we wait with eager longing,
                               we wait amid doubt and anxiety,
                               we wait with patience thin
                                        and then doubt,
                                        and then we take life into our
                                                                                       own hands.
We wait because you are the one and the only one.
We wait for your peace and your mercy,
    for your justice and your good rule.
Give us your spirit that we may wait
   obediently and with discernment,
   caringly and without passivity,
   trustingly and without cynicism,
   honestly and without utopianism.
Grant that our wait may be appropriate to your coming
          soon and very soon,
          soon and not late,
          late but not too late.
We wait while the world groans in eager longing.

              -Adapted from Prayers for a Privileged People by Walter Brueggemann
 

 

Prayer Practice

Take a walk today as you read this prayer, but read and walk very slowly, intentionally - almost too slow. Allow yourself to become uncomfortable with the slow pace and the waiting. As you move, breathe in and out, slowly, intentionally.