Prayer for Late in Lent
This prayer may be used in corporate worship or private devotion. (Use the first section only if read as an opening prayer, and the entire prayer if used at the "Concerns and Prayers.")
This prayer picks up some of the play with images that enriched the ancient church and are still evocative for us today. It is kindred to the kind of typological preaching and prayer employed by Augustine of Hippo, Ambrose of Milan, Cyril of Jerusalem,John Chrysostom, and other great catechetical pastors. It also connects to the play with imagery and contrasts found in African American song and spirituality.
God of the desert,
God of the forty years of wandering,
God of the forty days in the wilderness,
bring us to the waters of the Jordan
and into Easter's promise.
Sustain us in the remaining days of this Lenten desert
so that at last we rejoice in the contrasts
of fasting and feasting,
of stones one side of the waters
and of milk and honey on the other.
Steady us so that we are present
to the rigors of each day's trek.
Let unsought silences and deprivations
be occasions to "be overruled and swallowed up"
in your vast action.
Turn hungers for the things that we left behind in Egypt
into spiritual leanness glad for the Bread of Heaven.
Increase in us hospitality to the stranger.
Convert us as we journey
with candidates for baptism and confirmation.
Subdue the enemy within us
as you make peace in all the world.
Work repentance in your church
until our unity in Christ overpowers
our cherished divisions.
Go before us as the desert gives way to Easter's Alleluia.
Amen.
Quotation from Evelyn Underhill's "Abba" based on her retreat address on the Lord's Prayer.
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