In the name of the Triune God,
Let us pray with one heart:
In the beginning, when all was chaos, dark in silence, you spoke a word and created reality. We have gathered in faith that you, living God, not only spoke, but speak; not only created but create with the Word, that is unto us, life. And this life is like the light, the light that shines and overwhelms the darkness.
In that faith of your Word that creates, we rededicate ourselves to you to be servants, who with steadfast hearts and burning zeal, dare to pursue a vocation of speaking in your name. We dare to pursue a vocation that is worthy of a life.
Lord, Hear our Prayer.
Living Word, Son of the living God,
Resurrected life who intercedes on our behalf;
We pray for every preacher, in all places, especially those gathered,
That you will bless us with your mind, its logic and imagination;
Encourage and strengthen each as each has need for the calling
To ennoble your Scriptures by proclamation with the
Tongue of a teacher.
Lord, Hear our Prayer.
Holy Spirit, may your Word guard our tongue
May it taste in our mouth like honey,
May it nourish our body like the best food,
May it delight soul like the finest wine,
That we might with joy proclaim the mystery of
The faith with fresh confidence:
That Christ died,
That Christ rose,
And that Christ will come again.
Lord, Hear our Prayer.
In our sleep, may your Word reveal to us in our dreams
Visions of your glorious truth,
In our waking, may your Word be our guide
That puts our feet on a level path,
And gives us, with eyes wide open, the capacity to
See your work of shalom in the land of the living.
Lord, Hear our Prayer.
May the virtue of our daily study,
The reasoning and imagining;
The writing and rewriting;
The practice and the performance,
Allow us to participate in the event
Of your revelation –
The event that cannot be manipulated, nor massaged,
Only received as a grace that sets us free to
Run, at last, long and fast,
Into the wide open country of salvation.
Lord, Hear our Prayer.
And once in this country,
May we courageously follow the narrow path
That leads from the cross up into the high country
Where the air is thin,
And where there is a throne,
Surrounded by a multitude of voices
Who cry, along with every living creature,
To the one who is seated on the throne
“My Lord and my God”.
Lord, Hear our Prayer.
May the knowledge that we, even now, are
Citizens of this far country that is, even now,
Pressing in upon us.
Inspire us to take up the call
With renewed immediacy,
With deep resolve,
With humble surrender,
To accept the call to proclaim the reality of your
Truth, your grace, your revelation to the World,
Jesus Christ.
For this is a call worthy of a life.
Lord, Hear our Prayer.
Amen.
A prayer for clergy given at the Bast Preaching Festival at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan on October 26, 2010.