Lent 19

I spent about 7 hours with my mom today, and right now she's reading/sleeping on my couch. So, on this night, I turn to my good and faithful companion--Prayers for a Privileged People--for Walter Brueggemann's always inspiring words.

Children on Mother's Day

We are children today of many mothers,
some of us grateful and glad,
some of us cynical and defeated,
all of us living lives that are pure gift
from you and for you.

As we give thanks for our mothers,
so we think of children who you treasure
and invite close in.
For newborn babies arriving in these restless days,
for children loved and lost awhile--
Joshua, Charles, Michael, Sophie, and a world of others,
for children born feeble and troubled
and loved in their need,
for children infused with napalm and
shrapnel and hate and fire,
for children who know the sharp edge of Pharaoh and Herod,
and a thousand other uneasy men of force.

In the midst of this parade of innocence,
we submit all the treasured children of the world to you,
that they may prosper, and that we may become more fully
your daughters and sons,
children of your commandments,
recipients of your gifts,
bearers of your hope.

You have said, "Let the little children come."
Here we are--yours...
that we may receive your nurture
and your discipline.