To be Homeward | A Prayer

God of all peoples,

We are a broken people with split tongues.

From our mouths spout words of aid and solemn sanctuary,

and from the same lips fall words of locked doors and border controls.

At the table we set a place for You, so as to mark Your presence

and we set the deadbolt fast, so as not to share our plenty.

And we note not the way You wince and whisper, Whatever you do for the least of these …

God of the Homeland, rearrange our hearts’ contents until they embrace and embody Your way of reconciliation and hospitality.

Taunt us, haunt us until we relinquish our entitled habits of borders and territory.

Teach us not to fear losing our wisdom in our kindness, but rather to fear losing our kindness under the guise of wisdom.

Set our faces Homeward, and let us always, always, always recall that we are first Kingdom-dwellers.

Would You in Your life-giving way reorient us to the People of God, cultivate in us an affinity for fellow Christians by the tightest bond of spiritual relation.

Mark well in our minds that it is our brother who drowned just feet from the shore and our sister the mother who had to go the rest of the way alone.

Remind us, coming King, that we –

we all –

are always on the way,

and should not rest until we reach Kingdom shores;

that we bear the brunt of affliction

with unyielding hope fixed on the Land beyond.

Come for us –

for all of us –

soon.

Amen.