Prayer of
Contrition
By David Thayer
Oh Lord, the
world-universe
you created for
us is so
wondrous
And yet we have
systematically
violated our
given task of
stewardship.
We mismanage,
rape, despoil,
and in every way
possible destroy
The
inner-workings
of your plan for
the world;
We then dare to
complain.
The world and
creation groan
under the heavy
weight
Of the burden of
sin we have
placed on its
shoulders and
We sneer at
those who would
try to call us
back
To the purpose
of caring for
the environment.
Lord forgive the
people and our
families
That we do such
things so
thoughtlessly
and without
A second glance
of remorse or
soul searching…
Forgive our
recklessness.
Forgive our
fecklessness.
Forgive our
supreme
arrogance that
we would dare to
think
That man is the
measure of all
things.
Oh Lord, I pray
that you would
be merciful to
us.
Oh Lord,
forgive our
heedless
response to your
command;
To love others
as you have
loved us.
Lord while we
drown our
sensibilities in
television shows
and movies,
Music and games,
and Twitter, and
Facebook,
We turn away
from the
emotionally
impoverished,
the financially
needy,
Relationally
impoverished and
the
psychologically
needy.
We walk on by
with our eyes on
our I-pads
Our ears plugged
with music buds
Oblivious to our
brothers and
sisters,
mothers,
fathers,
Grandmothers and
grandfathers…
The great web of
life around us
all in such
great need,
For what purpose
do we make
ourselves deaf,
blind and mute?
Our hands
inactive, our
feet never
leaving home
base
For the latest
reality TV Show?
For the latest,
Halo game plot?
For the latest,
Kinect
app?
The latest,
applet on our
phone?
Oh people, look
around you,
there are at
least a dozen
people
You can spot in
the course of a
day that need
YOU.
Need you to do
something for
them.
Something that’s
more than a
smile and a fond
wish of, “Good
luck.”
And beyond them
are others in
ever-expanding
rank and file
Going to the
outermost parts
of the earth.
Oh Lord, forgive
our inaction.
Forgive our
unfeeling souls
hardened by the
Burden of
carrying so many
gadgets and toys
so we no longer
feel.
Oh Lord I pray
for all people,
that you would
be merciful unto
us.
I pray for the
angry buzzing
hive of
interactions on
the street
And think of
your promise to
forgive us as we
forgive others.
How many have I
forgiven today?
The foreign
gentleman in the
car ahead of me
Confused and
unintentionally
obstructing
traffic,
I hastily zoomed
around and past
him so
brusquely.
Can he forgive
me?
Can I forgive
him?
The person who
so rudely pushed
onto the
elevator as I
was exiting,
Have I forgiven
him?
Or the broken
souls I meet
every day;
The cashiers,
retailers, those
at movie kiosks,
Or people in the
hallways at
work?
Have I forgiven
their
transgressions
against me? Have
they forgiven
me?
Do I fully
understood the
constant cry of
pain and rage
That is
consuming their
hearts and in
which they are
drowning?
Is it possible
for me to reach
out a hand and
rescue them?
From the
whirlwind that
has them in its
clutches?
I pray oh Lord,
for all these
people that your
calming power
and grace
Would settle
upon them gently
like the softly
falling snow
And muffle and
quiet the
distress of
their lives
So that they
have a moment to
Lift up their
eyes, to you.
Oh Lord I pray
for the people
of my life that
you would be
merciful to us.
Oh Lord I pray
for the
children, the
millions upon
millions
We have
sacrificed on
the altar of
convenience and
utility.
As their tiny
little feet
trudge
mournfully into
the furnaces and
dustbins
And the oceans
of blood rise
higher and
higher around
our necks,
I can hear
Moloch laughing
at us, and our
haughty
pretentiousness
of being so:
Progressive.
We teach our
children that
life has no
meaning,
And wonder at
their opting out
in suicide.
We teach them
they are nothing
but an animal
and cry out in
distress
When they act
like animals.
What fools we
are!
We steal away
their childhood
trying to latch
onto that which
we are losing,
Over
sexualizing
them and sucking
the life from
them as we
worship youth.
We have
perverted the
very fountain of
creation
polluting our
creative urges
Into perversity
and unnatural
lusts and
affections.
We pander and
market and
advertise and
pimp
For all we are
worth to squeeze
some advantage
for ourselves
Thinking naught
of those we turn
into objects.
Then we wonder
why our elderly
end up alone and
broken.
Washed up on a
cold, cold beach
with a million
other tired
bodies while the
footsteps
Of the Beast
approaches,
through the
twilight, with
his slow
dragging steps.
Oh Lord Jesus
forgive us.
Forgive us.
Forgive us, for
we have chosen
death instead of
life.
Oh Lord I pray
for the nations
in their mighty
turmoil.
Their fermenting
oceans of debt
sloshing from
continent to
continent,
Panic in its
wake.
I think of the
lilies of the
field that
neither toil nor
labor.
Yet are arrayed
in finery
greater than
that of kings.
We hold fast to
your promises
and ask that our
worries about
time and money,
Sustenance and
board, a fearful
future slip away
into
Calmness found
in your abiding
spirit.
For all my
worry I cannot
extend my life
one second
And probably
clip many
seconds from
that
Which has been
graciously
allotted me.
This is not the
life God
intended us to
inhabit.
I reconcile
myself to the
fact that I am a
poor wayfaring
stranger in a
far off land,
An ambassador
for another
world awaiting
our summons
home.
And yet I pray
for my estranged
fellows, rebels
in a rebel land,
And my heart
breaks over
their
intransigence.
Lord I pray for
my fellows. I
ask of you
forgiveness for
these my
brothers and
sisters
As they know
not what it is
they do.
Oh Lord our
leaders strain
at a gnat and
swallow a stone.
Choking on the
hardness of
their cold
hearts.
They seek the
perfect and find
only misguided
efforts that
backfire in
their faces.
How long will
they continue to
do the same
things?
For how long
will they
achieve the same
results?
Before they give
up in defeat and
admit they
cannot do it
alone?
They need
someone larger
than themselves
to help them
reach down and
provide a
helping hand.
It is so simple
really.
The infinite is
fully capable of
reaching down
into the finite
To set things
aright,
But the finite
has no hope of
ever scaling
those infinite
heights atop
which
Our dreams and
desires alight.
I pray Lord that
you would lift
us up and set us
In the places
you have
prepared for us
before the
beginning of the
world.
Lord I pray for
mercy for my
people,
Pleas be
merciful unto
us.