O God,
Our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.
You are beyond our busy imaginings,
far above our elevated constructions of thought.
Yet you meet us in the dust.
Your footprints cross ours.
Behind us and before us you tread the path,
you lead the way,
you exult,
you bow low,
you lift us up.
You look upon us through the face of the poor;
you bless us in the nurture of friendship;
you challenge us in the cries for justice
and the weeping for hope.
Yoked to Jesus your Son,
joined in oneness with yourself,
we strain against your direction
and we know make ourselves irksome;
summoned to follow your way,
we burden ourselves and others;
asked to stand up,
we cower in our own inadequacy
and our own discrediting.
Forgive us the wrongs we have done
to others, to ourselves, to you.
Forgive us our bondage to fixed patterns
when they no longer serve you;
our surrender to newness when newness is folly;
our failure to listen to the old people of this land
and the old and new who are hurting
and hidden beyond our preoccupations.
Lift us from our fear that we may see your vision
know your wisdom
and find our rest in you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
Jesus said: Come to me all you who are weary
and are carrying heavy burdens
and I will give you rest.
prepared by William Loader