God of Moses and Miriam,
You led people by fire and by stars,
You who guided our ancestors across wilderness and sea:
Help.
We are overwhelmed by the journey
and weary of living in uncertainty.
Our lives are thirsty.
We turn to you for something to drink:
for hope to soothe our cynical souls,
for grace to mend our relationships,
for love to save us from our arrogance,
for peace to quell our longing for more.
Our lives are changing.
We turn to you for something to steady us:
for vision to fill us with childlike joy,
for wisdom to know our next steps,
for community to share the journey,
for patience through each struggle.
You are our rock and our water.
Though we feel unsteady, help us stand.
Though we fear drowning, call us to wade deeply.
You are our history and our future.
Comfort our spirits with familiar stories of your goodness.
Unsettle our lives toward the foreign terrain of your Kindom.
We remember that this wilderness is crowded with travelers:
We pray for the continued disruption of injustice
from Ferguson to Philadelphia to Hong Kong.
We pray for brothers and sisters who are in mourning
in our church, in Paraguay, in Der Zor, in eastern Congo.
On this journey, take us as we are, in your mercy,
and then do not leave us unchanged.
We pray by your name
and for your sake.
Amen.
A pastoral prayer based on today’s Narrative and Revised Common Lectionary readings.