POP–we do not understand

You are—and we thank you.
You are holy, and powerful, and gracious, and forgiving.
You are love.
You are hope and peace.
You are the One who gives, and the One who calls.
And so we thank you, for your faithfulness, your persistence, your generosity.
Yet at the same time, gratitude may be simultaneously over and understatement…
for we do not understand.
We do not understand why some have more and some have less.
We do not understand why some have floods and others drought.
We do not understand why the earth shakes, or fires rage, or violence erupts.
We do not understand where you can possibly be when we are sick, or worried, or despairing.
And yet…you are.
You are here. You are there.
You are within and among and around.
You remind us that we cannot know everything,
that mystery is called so for a reason.
So we do what we can do—
we come. we listen. we speak our pain and our joy.
we offer ourselves to you,
broken and healed, hopeful and lost, wondering and frustrated.
We bring our hearts, our minds, our bodies,
and pray that you would make yourself known yet again.
May your image shine in each face we see,
and in our own.
May your kingdom be visible in our community.
May your love overflow through our love.
Make us people unafraid to speak truth, to confront injustice, to show compassion.
Draw us near to you, and make us ever more in your likeness,
that all the world may know your healing love.
We pray in the name of the most gracious, Jesus the Christ, who taught us how to pray:
Our Father…

Submitted by Rev. Teri Peterson, Ridgefield-Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church, Crystal Lake IL.