Notes from a Sojourn
June 10, 2020

Today’s post is a prayer from Old Testament scholar and theologian Walter Brueggemann’s book, Prayers for a Privileged People.

Waiting for Bread…and for God’s Future

On Reading Micah

We are strange mixtures of loss and hope.

As we are able, we submit our losses to you.
We know about sickness and dying
about death and mortality
about failure and disappointment
And now for a moment we do our
failing and our dying in your presence,
you who attend to us in loss

As we are able, we submit our hopes to you.
We know about self-focused fantasy
and about notions of control.
But we also know that our futures
are out beyond us,
held in your good hand.

Our hopes are filled with promises of
well-being, justice, and mercy.
Move us this day beyond our fears and anxieties
into your land of goodness.
We wait for your coming,
we pray for your kingdom.
In the meantime, give us bread for the day.

from Prayers for a Privileged People by Walter Brueggemann
Abingdon Press, 2008.