Fool of prayer

 

I hear you, Isaiah

I understand your canned concerns

But I’m not sorry

And I never will be

 

I don’t care if you’re an actual prophet

Or just courageous like one

I simply will not pray for him, period 

I won’t even pray for the man at your right hand

 

They’re both fools I’ve prayed for before

And I’m finished praying for fools who pray

And pray and pray, and pray and pray

And talk about praying

 

For others to be warm and filled 

Along with blessings from above

For them to experience the love and light of Christ

And other ejaculatory buzzwords of spiritual direction

 

Fools pray when far more than praying can and should be done by them

Fools expect results by their prayers

They’re fools because of their many prayers

They’re fools because they expect God alone to act, even if its by inaction

 

Fools also baptize their prayers 

With pietistic not-my-will’s but thy-will’s

And doxological refrains

In Jesus’ name

 

Meanwhile, rapists’ rape 

And rape and rape 

And never receive justice

But thank God there’s at least one fool out there praying for him by name

3/10/23

 

That look on your face

Breathless and panicked

With a half-decade behind

Just to start all over

Just to keep life going as it was

Just to focus on new responsibilities

Just to put out new flames

Just to exhaust new strategies

Just to wake up to new joys

Just to bask in new snuggles

Just to love this new little-christ

Tomorrow we break the news

With the other three

With mochi and smartphones

Trusting Grace

 

 

At first you dragged us

Against our will and into your life

Irresistibly impelling the I 

We were humbled

 

Then you showered gifts 

Washing us with precious promises 

Of life, of good, of blessings to come, even protection from prey

We were inspired

 

So, we did as you commanded

Day after day, studying to preach and pray 

Students on mission, on fire without a cage

We persevered

Life happened

Decades passed

We became as gods

 

Knowing good and evil

Knowing the difference 

Between planting corn and strawberries

Curiosity piqued

 

In our quest of you

Analyzed and perused

Unexamined details sprouted like never before

It was as though, for once, we both reached an impasse

 

Then we each watched each other's tide

Encroach upon our iconic moat and sand castle

While each of us did nothing

 

What happened to the One who saved us?

Where did all the power and sovereignty go?

Will you not do for us what we cannot do for ourselves?

Why the silent treatment now?

 

Nothing but silence, casting doubt

In despair, questioning if you’d ever been there

In loneliness, orphaned and stranded

Why should we care?

A generation of wandering

Around this citadel of sand

And you would not coddle or swaddle us once more

 

Why not drag us, or woo us, or inspire us again?

Why jettison every word of promise?

Convince us to care, if you dare

Then the seed finally died

 

Children abandoned their fathers

Servants betrayed their masters

Fruitless branches pruned from the vine

Because juvenility reigned

 

Only a few learned to increase in likeness and sovereignty

Even fewer took control of this monergistic gift for all

To honor father and mother when they’re no longer needed

And trust this first synergistic word with promise