Bearers of the Word

You we name as Lord, Sovereign, King.
You we confess governor over nations, empires, and kingdoms.
You in your holiness remain hidden,
evoking our extravagant doxologies.

Your rule draws close and visible
among us
when we see new possibilities break out,
or watch the rise and fall
beyond explanation.

Your rule draws close when you
dispatch prophets, messengers, and angels,
who dare say,
"Thus saith the Lord."

You dispatch your sovereign word through
human utterers. . .
preachers, poets, artists,
various freakish dissenters
and dreamers.

We thank you for your word of governance;
we do not want to be addressed
by dreams, breaks, or possibilities.
We most certainly do not want to be
bearers of such
dreams, breaks, or possibilities,
because we are mostly agents of
steady equilibrium.

Nonetheless, we dare yearn for your
word and occasionally utter it.
We thank you that we do not live
in a world unaddressed.
We thank you that you are not a God unuttered.

So we pledge, as we are able,
to listen and to speak,
being available for your word
that is full of grace and truth.

(a prayer by Walter Brueggemann, from his book, Prayers for a Privileged People)